West Suffolk Council trying to ‘strike balance’ over grass cutting as number of official complaints including in Bury St Edmunds revealed
A council has said it is trying to ‘strike a balance’ over grass cutting after wet weather earlier this year and investment in staff and machinery.
West Suffolk Council said it increased its budget for grass cutting and grounds maintenance from £2.1 million to about £2.3 million for this year, with four extra staff to address the issue.
It follows a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by SuffolkNews into the number of official complaints over grass cutting in West Suffolk in the last six years.
Official complaints were highest in 2019 with 23 including 12 in Bury St Edmunds followed by seven in 2020 (five in Bury), 20 in 2021 (five), 14 in 2022 (four), 19 in 2023 (six) and 13 (three) up to June this year.
A cyclist who wished not to be named spoke of their safety fears over long grass and weeds at the cycleway / footpath on the way to the Great Churchyard in Bury.
SuffolkNews has also highlighted issues with overgrown grass in the Bury St Edmunds Cemetery and at the Flying Fortress park, which is set for a £20,000 package of repair and renovation works.
Official complaints in other towns in West Suffolk include:
- 2019: Four in Newmarket, none in Brandon, five in Mildenhall and two in Haverhill
- 2020: One in Newmarket, one in Brandon, none in Mildenhall and none in Haverhill
- 2021: Five in Newmarket, one in Brandon, five in Mildenhall and four in Haverhill
- 2022: Three in Newmarket, none in Brandon, two in Mildenhall and five in Haverhill
- 2023: Five in Newmarket, two in Brandon, one in Mildenhall and five in Haverhill
- 2024: Three in Newmarket, one in Brandon, two in Mildenhall and four in Haverhill
West Suffolk Council is responsible for the parks and green spaces it owns as well as highway verges in residential areas on behalf of Suffolk County Council, which is the highways authority.
The county council pays West Suffolk for a single cut of the highway verges for visibility safety purposes and the district authority then carries out a further eight cuts to maintain those areas to an amenity standard.
West Suffolk posts weekly grass cutting schedules on its website where residents can find details of which areas will have grass cut.
Cllr Ian Shipp, cabinet member for leisure at West Suffolk Council, said: “When the change of leadership at the council took place last year, one of the first things we did was instigate a review of our grass cutting procedures.
“There are people who feel we should be cutting less, and others who feel we should be cutting more.
“We try to strike a balance supporting our communities and biodiversity.
“The wet weather we had earlier in the spring and summer never helps but we have invested in more staff and better machinery.
“Our cross-party review group met recently to discuss progress and we will be meeting again in September to look at further opportunities for improvements and increased biodiversity.”
West Suffolk maintains 761 acres of amenity grass including highway verges.
About a quarter is classified as Suffolk County Council highway verge.
In December 2022, West Suffolk announced it would stop using Glyphosate, the broad-spectrum weedkiller, to help protect wildlife and the environment.
An FOI request was also submitted to Suffolk County Council over the number of complaints it received about grass cutting and grounds maintenance in recent years.
In 2019, there were 48 including four in Bury St Edmunds, 25 in 2020 with two in Bury, 31 in 2021 (three), 18 in 2022 (none in Bury), seven in 2023 and five this year as of June including one in Bury.
For West Suffolk Council’s weekly grass cutting schedules visit www.westsuffolk. gov.uk/environment/environmental-services/grass-cutting.cfm
