Sir, - The Irish Wildlife Trust would like to extend its congratulations to the people of Ardagh on winning the Tidy Town of the Year award yet again. We believe that the competition has made some contribution to increasing the level of awareness and respect of people for their own environment. It is our contention, however, that some of the practices that appear to be part and parcel of being a "tidy town" need to be called into question. These include the manicuring of hedgerows on the approach roads to towns and the relentless mowing of grass to within an inch of its life to the detriment of other species living in the grass sward. If this is what being a "tidy town" is about then we are against it. If it is about less litter on our streets then we are for it.
The fact of the matter is that the ethos of the competition appears to be based on viewing towns as separate from the surrounding landscape and not as intrinsic parts of it. Perhaps, to encourage people to view their towns as such, a new category in the competition could be introduced - that of "most wildlife-friendly town". We in the IWT would be happy to discuss with the organisers of the Tidy Towns competition the criteria by which a town might be so judged. - Yours, etc.,
Dr Rory P. O'Hanlon,
Irish Wildlife Trust,
Lower Baggot Street,
Dublin 2.