A university wants to set aside nearly half of its land for re-wilding which will see plants allowed to grow rather than being mowed down.

The University of Sussex will re-wild 42 per cent of its campus land in a move which aims to promote more biodiversity on the campus.

The move will be achieved by designating land into areas where the grass will be cut a limited number of times a year as well as other areas where no mowing will take place.

Vice-chancellor Professor Sasha Rosenail said: “The loss of nature should be of crucial concern to every inhabitant of our planet.

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“Universities, particularly those fortunate to have large, non-urban campuses, can and should play a leading role in guiding nature’s recovery.

“It is vital that we carry out and publish scientific research that measures and seeks to understand changing patterns of biodiversity across the globe, but it also matters how we practically manage our own land.”

Currently, the university sets aside 38 per cent of its land to nature but wants to increase this by four per cent by 2027.

As part of the project, the university will leave some areas completely to nature to “passively re-wild”.

Other areas will be mowed considerably less than normal, ranging from one to three times per year.