Residents turn to DIY grass cutting
FED up residents are increasingly taking matters into their own hands and cutting communal grass areas themselves because council maintenance work is too slow.
Inverness South councillor Jim Crawford made the claim after an eagle-eyed passer-by spotted four council staff trimming already short grass outside Highland Council’s Inverness HQ.
“The grounds were in a condition that many people would likely consider to be quite neat and not in need of maintenance,” said the passer-by.
“Two workers with lawnmowers were even seen working on the same area of grass.”
Councillor Crawford said many people would question why the work was being undertaken, especially in the wake of controversy over the council’s handling of grass cutting contracts.
Just last month the local authority’s head of roads and transport, Richard Evans, said the decision to out-source grass cutting several years ago had been poorly thought out.
And at the start of July the council announced it would be working closely with its private contractor, ISS, after
the authority admitted open ground maintenance had suffered in some areas.
Reacting to the number of workers trimming grass at the council HQ, Councillor Crawford said: “I can understand some people saying if they can do it at the HQ, why can’t they do it elsewhere?
“We keep paying our taxes but services are diminishing year by year.”
He added that he had seen an increase in residents cutting public patches of grass outside their homes, especially in rural areas — recently spotting one man strimming 100 yards of grass outside his house at Sunnyside on the B9006 Croy
“It is happening more and more because people do not think it is going to be done by the council,” he added.
The four workers correct term for themspotted at the HQ are not thought to be part ofthe council’s new push to improve its public spaces maintenance programme.
They operate a separate service for the authority at the building in Glenurquhart Road, which includes grass cutting, monitoring the staff car park, moving furniture and other duties such as general maintenance.
A council spokeswoman said a private contractor was also brought in as and when required to cut back hedges and shrubs around the building.
