Release date: 04.09.07
Ref: BBC/PR/L&D/29/07

Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its last meeting (23.08.07) has made several recommendations on improvements which could be made to the grass cutting service.

The Committee as part of the review asked for comments and feedback from the local community on how the grass cutting service is performing and nearly 40 people sent in details.

Some of the recommendations included sending out plans to the Parish Councils to illustrate which areas are maintained by the Borough Council and the cutting schedule; introducing better admin systems for logging work and areas of concern; that extra funding is requested for the remainder of the year to tackle some problem areas; and for the Council to work in partnership with Parish Councils and community groups to enable them to deliver their own grass cutting services in their area.

Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Councillor Dave Stewart said:
“The review has been very useful and we have gathered some valuable information about the grass cutting service.

“There are a number of recommendations which we have made, some for the short term, which will hopefully have an immediate impact on services, and others will hopefully make long term improvements, for example, we have recommended that extra money is spent on grass cutting in next year’s budget.

“We also hope that Parish Councils and community groups will be interested in working with us to help deliver better grass cutting services in their local community areas,” he said.