West Suffolk Council announces £200,000 investment to help tackle overgrown grass and grounds maintenance issues

Overgrown grass and weeds are in the firing line thanks to a £200,000 district council investment to help tackle known issues.

West Suffolk Council has announced a package of measures, including recruitment and cuts to commercial work, in an effort to keep on top of mowing after cutting targets were missed this year.

The announcement follows criticism from residents about grounds maintenance.

Now, West Suffolk Council – which is responsible for more than 500 hectares of public open space – is taking action to bolster its grass cutting and grounds maintenance team ahead of the next cutting season.

Cllr Ian Shipp, cabinet member for leisure, said £200,000 would be spent on enlarging the team and associated equipment, while commercial work would be reduced.

Cllr Shipp said: “This investment will now go through our budget process in the new year, but I wanted to take action now so the teams are ready for March and the new cutting season.

“This investment follows engagement with partners, councillors as well as parish and town councillors and organisations such as ‘In Bloom’ groups. All were clear they did not want any reduction in grass cutting.

“This new investment of around £200,000 means we can maintain our three-weekly schedule and keep West Suffolk tidy and safe.”

The decision was made following a review, which also reveals the district council is maintaining county council-managed roadside verges to the tune of £220,000 per year.

New measures include:

- The three-weekly cutting schedule, traditionally between March and October, will not be reduced – at times this year this was exceeded, with grass cut every five to six weeks

- Subject to cabinet support of the 2024/25 budget, staffing capacity is increased by three full-time posts

- External commercial work to be reduced, boosting capacity by approximately one full-time equivalent but cutting council income by £38,679

- No decisions on weed control to be made until Suffolk Highways clarifies its position early next year

Cllr Shipp added: “Looking at our grass cutting and grounds maintenance regime was one of the first things we announced at our first cabinet meeting.

“I believe there is a balance to be had, which is also reflected in the comments we receive from the public. They both want to see us encourage biodiversity but help keep up standards of civic provide to encourage visitors. At the same time it is a complicated picture of who does what and where when it comes to grass cutting.”

The results of the report can be found at Review-of-WSC-Grounds-Maintenance-Operations.pdf (westsuffolk.gov.uk)

The review reveals:

GROWTH: The district has seen ‘significant growth’ in public open space over the past 20 years, with more than 20 additional developments adopted, adding to the workload

COST: The current cost to the council for grounds maintenance this year is more than £2.1 million

WEEDS: The council stopped using chemical-based weed treatment from April, however this had led to a ‘significant’ increase in weeds and other growth

VERGES: Suffolk Highways pays West Suffolk Council to cut some of its highway verges – amounting to a fifth of the amenity grass areas maintained by the district council – just once per year

But the report said: “The number of cuts each year Suffolk Council Council (SCC) Highways pay us for has steadily diminished over the years and it now only pays us for a single cut (but at a higher rate).

“SCC has made it clear that its primary concern with regards highway verges is not aesthetics and it will therefore only pay for the cutting of the verges for safety purposes to maintain visibility at junctions and to ensure road and pavement widths are not reduced.”

West Suffolk Council said it had continued to cut the highways verges at the same time as its own amenity grassed areas in an effort to maintain the visual appearance of neighbourhoods, amounting to eight-10 cuts per year.

The report added: “We estimate the cost to subsidise the number of cuts to an amenity level amounts to approximately £220,000 per year, based on eight cuts in a season.”

The report added that the option of handing responsibility of highway verges back to the highways authority was considered but – given the public dissatisfaction a surrendering of responsibilities could generate – the option was dismissed.

COMPLAINTS: Between April and August this year, the district council’s customer services team handled 761 telephone and email grounds maintenance-related inquiries.

This compares to 511 inquiries between April and August 2022.