We need to bring green back to our suburbs

On arriving in Dublin from ‘the country’, many years ago, I was struck, among other things, by the range, variety and beauty of the front gardens that bedecked many areas of the city. These provided beautiful spectacles of colour, especially in Spring and Autumn.

Alas, no more! Like forests laid low by the mighty chainsaw, city gardens are disappearing at a rate of knots, as tarmacadam, concrete and cobble lock gradually replace every vestige of grass in the city.

Of course, not only is this a mistake from the point of view of aesthetics, it also has serious environmental consequences as increasingly regular flooding, exacerbated by lack of soil for soakage, clogs up our gutters and creates havoc.When will somebody shout stop? Surely there is a way of incentivising people to keep their gardens? And as many new houses include no green area – surely someone in planning can do something about this? Wouldn’t it be a positive step, if the New year brought about a new awareness of the beauty and importance of something as common-or-garden as the front garden?