Overwhelming majority of public in favour of wildflower meadow in front of Trinity

Plans to replace the grass area outside the front of Trinity College with a wildflower meadow have got the backing of the public.

Of almost 14,000 votes, 90% were in favour of boosting biodiversity.

Professor of Botany, John Parnell, hopes to begin work on transforming the lawns once the coronavirus restrictions are lifted;

Due to COVID-19 we took a pause, but wanted to let you know results of #tcdwildflowers vote.

13,850 votes. 90% in favour of turning the front of Trinity from a lawn into a wildflower meadow. We won’t be planting quite yet, but stay tuned, we’ll update as circumstances allow. pic.twitter.com/kWMXW2l6V0

— Trinity College Dublin (@tcddublin) May 1, 2020

Prof. Parnell said: "It is really quite surprising, I thought the vote would be closer than that and I had no idea so many people wanted to see the area changed.

"I think the thing to remember is that this is not going to be a blaze of colour from December of one year right through to December of the next year, but it is going to be colourful for a lot of the time."