A council has been accused of a 'brutal land management' after mowing a meadow which environmentalists say has destroyed the site for wildlife.

It follows grass cutting near the riverside in Wincheap - where a controversial park and ride extension is planned.

Save Wincheap Water Meadows campaigner Sian Pettman says the work has been done at the worst possible time, with no sensitivity towards the site.

"Gone are all the cowslips and the plants that have grown up this spring, providing food and habitat for a myriad insects and cover for small mammals," she said.

"It is a very brutal form of land management and hardly appropriate for a local wildlife site.

"One of the justifications that was given by the council for the extension of the park and ride car park onto the water meadows was that the water meadows were 'species poor'.

"Well that's not surprising if the council instructs Serco to raze the vegetation to the ground as they have done over the last couple of days."

Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield described it as "a horrible sight", adding: "Why on Earth was this done?"

Another campaigner, Prof Richard Norman, said: "Nature was just coming back to life in the spring sunshine and now the meadow has been turned into a desert," he said.

He and others are pointing the council to the ‘No Mow May’ campaign by the national wildlife organisation Plantlife, which says it results in greater diversity and number of flowers throughout the summer.

But council spokesman Rob Davies says the work is part of routine maintenance carried out at the location each year.

"This has been the case since at least 2008, although we realise many people may not be aware of this history because it is only fairly recently that the land has come to wider prominence locally, " he said.

"The schedule is for a cut of this nature to take place on the main meadow twice a year - once in spring and once in summer - with two additional cuts next to the paths at other times of the year.

"We carried out a site visit on Tuesday morning and can confirm that there is green grass under the dry and brown grass cuttings, which is sitting on top at the moment. Within a week or two the green grass will push through and the site will look green once again.

"And we would reassure residents that maintenance of this land has nothing to do with its potential use for park and ride in the future."

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