West Lothian Council could not have picked a worse year to introduce a new grass cutting rota on the back of budget cuts.
That was clear from the latest Local Area Committee meeting – Livingston North – when figures revealed a surge in complaints about scruffy parks and grass verges.
A report from the Operational Services team highlighted the “unprecedented growing conditions ” in a report to councillors and community representatives.
This wrong type of weather problem was “caused by prolonged periods of wet weather combined with or followed by periods of heat. This caused the grass to grow significantly quicker than normal between cuts and often meant staff had to cut grass in wet conditions. ”
The council had to bring in private contractors to help complete the summer cutting programme. Figures reveal 60 grass cutting enquiries compared to last year when there were six and 23 complaints this year compared to 3 for the same period last year.
Community representatives aired their unhappiness. Brian Johnstone, chair of Livingston Village Community Council said there had been a “virtual barrage of comments” about the grass at previous meetings he had attended.
He added that he though the town had gone from ” from an award-winning appearance to tatty wilderness. The appearance of the town is not good for attracting new business and new residents. ”
Councillor Andrew Miller said: “It’s quite apparent the number of complaints has risen dramatically. I was only surprised the fly tipping numbers have dropped, maybe they can’t see the fly- tipping for the grass that’s there.”
He added that he expected the next set of figures to be as bad and that he looked forward to a review of the season coming before the council.
