ABC councillors hit out at the eyesore and dangers of overgrown grass verges
An Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon councillor has spoken of his embarrassment that overgrown grass gave a poor image of Banbridge to visitors who flocked to the town for the annual BuskFest musical extravaganza.
Speaking at the latest council meeting, Alderman Ian Burns (UUP) explained another popular event was also held on the same day in the market town, namely Banbridge Church of Ireland’s annual summer fête.
Ald Burns commented: “I’m getting an increased number of phone calls with regards to grass. Grass is growing around the borough and, as you drive about yourself, you see it, grass verges, the grass is maybe a foot high.
“We seem to have lost our civic pride in this borough where the grass is allowed to grow.
“We had a great festival on Saturday — BuskFest and a church fête. There are a lot of people coming into town. The first thing that meets them is long grass on verges. It’s terrible looking.
“And when we do go to cut it, we don’t lift it any more. So it’s strewn all over the place. It gathers in around the kerbs and it helps to grow weeds because it becomes like a fertiliser.
“On the top of Reilly Street, we put in new flag poles so we could put on the BuskFest advertisements, and even there there’s a foot’s depth of grass growing around those. It just seems we have lost our way.
“Now, if we don’t have the staff, surely we can look at outside contractors to come in — not to take over, but to complement what we have — so that the grass is cut on a regular basis and possibly collected and lifted like we used to do, because it’s just strewn all over the place. A foot, a foot and a half of grass cut and just lying there is a real eyesore.
“We have to restore our civic pride and start cutting the grass on a more regular basis. I don’t know what the problem is, why we don’t have enough staff, but if we could supplement our staff with an outside contractor to help us.
“And it’s the same everywhere; coming through Gilford tonight, grass verges again a foot high, it’s terrible looking. We need to restore civic pride in this borough.”
Alderman Glenn Barr (UUP) felt strongly on this issue too: “Just to concur with my colleague, and if that was a proposal I can second it — even for a report to be brought to committee.
“Two or three weeks ago I sent through to our Environmental Services an email to complain about the grass needing cut. I gave the benefit of the doubt for a week, and it wasn’t until the end of last week that it eventually got cut — three weeks later.
“Now, in that correspondence I was having with officers, I was told that the grass was cut. I was sending back pictures saying, ‘What’s this grass?’ — and the grass was up to my knees.
“Likewise with bins being emptied. I’m sending through for the dog-fouling bins to be emptied and I’m being told these bins are being emptied, that they were emptied two or three days ago — but this bin had rubbish sitting underneath it.
“So, there’s definitely a communication breakdown somewhere along the line and we need to get to the bottom of that as soon as possible, because, as Ald Burns said, where’s our civic pride here?
“We have people coming to the borough, to our towns, and they’re seeing all this. They see the grass over their knees, and even with grass verges in the middle of the roads on the [A1 dual] carriageway, the sightlines are extremely dangerous.
“I know that’s a matter for DfI (Department for Infrastructure), but within our own [remit] we need to get communication [working] better - both up and down - as well as picking up our emails a lot quicker and getting it resolved.
“Hopefully we can see a report coming through quite quickly, so that this doesn’t become an issue every single summertime when the grass starts growing.”
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Councillor Peter Haire (DUP) blamed DfI too: “I’ve had phone calls as well, but it’s not our council. The problem is DfI Footpaths and Roads - it’s crazy.
“I sent an email on May 29, asking when the spraying would start. They told me it would start at the end of May and it’s going to take six to eight weeks, and then a further 10 to 14 days.
“That’s just not good enough. The place is an absolute mess, and the phone calls I’m getting - everybody thinks it’s the council’s problem. It’s not the council’s problem; it’s DfI Roads and it needs done right away.”
Councillor Kyle Moutray (DUP) believed that outside agencies were needed to keep on top of the grass-cutting issues.
He commented: “Ald Burns did mention outside agencies. And when it comes to grass, even things like cemeteries, that’s something I think we need to give real consideration to.
“My own experience as a councillor in Portadown - I’ve raised this before, I believe it was last summer - with regard to Drumilly Green, Corcrain and Redmanville, there is a football pitch on council-maintained grass.
“Last year, it was the case that children had to go out and actually mow that grass. It was the same again this year. Nothing’s changed, unfortunately. And that’s what the ratepayer is seeing. I think that’s unacceptable, to be perfectly honest.
“My own experience is that when I go to the council, I can’t get a timeline for when grass-cutting takes place in estates on council-maintained grass, [yet] I can get that from the Housing Executive and I have got that recently. That’s my concern.
“I really think that when it comes to grass and things like that, if we’re not able to get the staff to do it, we have to look at outside agencies.”
Councillors were informed that a report will be brought in due course on the grass-cutting issue.