Mini-gardens for bees on bus stop roofs approved

Living Roofs are planted with a mix of 13 wildflower seeds

Plans to introduce "bee bus stops" aimed to boost biodiversity in urban areas have been approved for Peterborough.

Peterborough City Council said 34 bus stops could include Living Roofs, mini-gardens planted on top of bus shelters that are made up of wildflowers and other vegetation.

The initiative was included in its new plan for the city's bus stops, which will also see "comfortable seating" replace existing perch seats.

At a meeting of the cabinet, external on Tuesday, the plans were discussed and approved.

The council will award a new contract to Bauer Media Outdoor UK to manage the city's bus stops.

The agreement includes the company providing the council with an annual income of £140,000 from the sale of advertising space, plus 2.5% of its quarterly gross revenue.

The contract is expected to run for a minimum of 10 years, with options to extend it, and could provide the authority with £2.8m over 20 years.

There are more than 350 Living Roofs across the UK, including in Birmingham, Glasgow and Northampton.

Chris Wiggin, the council's Liberal Democrat cabinet member for environment, said: "We need to do everything we can to support biodiversity and support bees and other pollinators because without those there is no other life, so I'm very happy to see these [plans] come forward."

Other planned changes to the city's bus stops include providing up-to-date passenger information and installing digital advertising screens at most bus stops.

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Source: BBC Science