Post #4288579

‘It’s all right for them’: private schools and golf courses stay green (again) despite England’s hosepipe bans As parks turn brown and paddling pools go unfilled, exemptions mean sports pitches can stay lush – even in school holidays After multiple punishing heatwaves, and no rain in parts for over a month, it seems the whole of the south of England is golden brown. But by Hammersmith Bridge in Barnes, south-west London, there is the unmistakable scent of damp soil. The playing fields of St Paul’s school, where fees are up to £57,000 a year, are a bright, lush green. The neatly trimmed grass, with water droplets clinging to each blade, looks like a mirage in the otherwise parched landscape. It has been a shock to appalled residents, who are under a hosepipe ban and have to let their own lawns die. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jul/31/england-hosepipe-ban-drought-private-schools-golf-courses-green-grass