Monmouth Assembly Member Nick Ramsay is urging the Welsh Government to play its part in promoting bee friendly plants.
Speaking on Wednesday, Mr Ramsay said: “We all need to think bee. These tiny little insects are vital to our survival and have been declining in alarming rates since the 1990s. It is essential that we do all we can to foster and protect them. We can all play a part by encouraging wild flowers to grow in hedgegrows, gardens and at the edges of fields, or by buying bee friendly flowers.
“While encouraging efforts are being to make Monmouthshire a bee friendly county, I was concerned to see that wild flowers have recently been cleared from the central reservation on the A40.
“This is wasted opportunity. Highway verges account for quite a large area of potential natural habitat and seem to be an obvious opportunity to encourage bees.
“Bees are not only vital to our survival but make a significant contribution to the UK economy, with the value of honeybees and bumblebees as pollinators of commercially grown insect pollinated crops estimated at over £200 million per year.
“I will be pressing the Welsh Government to help make Monmouthshire more bee friendly.”
