An area is to be planted with wildflowers in Felixstowe next summer to brighten up a neighbourhood and help reduce the need for grass cutting.

Suffolk Coastal council is looking for ways to prune its budget without harming public services – and has agreed to the scheme being given a year’s trial.

Councillor Margaret Morris, who suggested the project in the town’s west ward, said she had been very encouraged by the support she had received from residents for the idea.

She said: “There has been a lot of concern about the reduction in the number of cuts the grass is having in certain areas.

“Planting areas of wildflowers would mean there would be less grass cutting because the land would have to be left for the flowers to grow, but the advantage would be that the area would look lovely during the height of the summer.”

The area chosen for the trial is a piece of land, planted with trees, at the side of the road where Grange Road meets Wesel Avenue.

Mrs Morris said: “The patch will need to be cut this autumn, and again next autumn.

“So we will see what it looks like next summer. I’m hoping it will be attractive to bees and butterflies.

“It wouldn’t work in the main flower beds at The Triangle for instance or on the seafront.

“But if it looks good next year I hope we can try it in other places.”

Earlier this summer town councillors were told the resort’s hard-pressed gardeners – employed by Suffolk Coastal Services – were under pressure and “struggling to maintain high standards of grounds maintenance due to a limited workforce, budget reductions, staff issues and retraining, and unseasonal weather which had not been kind”.

Suffolk Coastal Services would welcome further suggestions for trial wildflower areas.