“Where’s our civic pride?”
That was the simple question posed by one local councillor, whose complaints and criticisms of council’s own grass-cutting endeavours opened the floodgates for others to air their own.
As the matter was discussed at ABC Council’s monthly meeting, there were concerns over grass being allowed to grow to unmanageable levels, picnic tables hidden in the undergrowth and even children forced to mow a football field to render it playable.
It was Ulster Unionist Alderman Ian Burns who flagged the issue, when he said he had been fielding an increasing number of phone calls about the state of the borough, making particular reference to the weekend festivities around Banbridge.
“As you drive about yourself, you see it,” he said. “Grass verges, maybe the grass is 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 in Buskfest and a church fete. There was a lot of people coming into town. The first thing that meets them is long grass and verges. It’s terrible looking. Then when we do go to cut it, we don’t lift it anymore. We used to lift the grass, but we don’t lift it anymore, 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.”
Alderman Burns said flagpoles had been erected at the top of Reilly Street in Banbridge to promote last weekend’s Buskfest.
“Even them, there’s a foot deep of grass growing round those,” he added. “It just seems to be 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 collect it, lift it, like we used to do, because it’s just strewn all over the place.”
Describing cut grass left to lie as a “real eyesore”, Alderman Burns said: “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, if we don’t have enough staff, but if we could supplement our staff with an outside contractor to help us. 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.”
Party colleague Alderman Glenn Barr said he had sent an email to environmental services three weeks ago about the need for grass to be cut.
But he added: “It wasn’t until the end of last week that it eventually got cut three weeks later.”
Alderman Barr said whenever he corresponds with officers, he is being told grass is being cut – and dog foul bins emptied too – but he is sending back pictures to prove that’s not the case.
“There’s definitely a communication breakdown somewhere along the lines, and we need to get to the bottom of that, ASAP,” he insisted.
“Where’s the civic pride here? We have people coming to the borough, to our towns, and they’re seeing all this, they’re seeing the grass over their knees. Even with grass verges in the middle of the roads and the carriageway, they’re up over the sight lines. It’s extremely dangerous.
“That is DfI, but within our own constructions, we need to get the communication better, going up and down, as well as picking up our emails a lot quicker and getting it resolved, and hopefully we can maybe see a report coming through quite quickly.
“I know we’re going into recess now, but I’d like to see that report coming through so that we can have those options so that doesn’t become an issue every single summertime when the grass starts growing. It is an issue and it shouldn’t be an issue really.”
SDLP Councillor Thomas O’Hanlon said these problems had been highlighted at the previous month’s full council meeting but added: “Grass in the areas that I raised still hasn’t been cut. In fact, there’s areas in Keady that the last time it was cut was September last year.”
There was, said Councillor O’Hanlon, a picnic area on the Armagh to Keady Road, where the grass around it has grown to three feet high.
“There needs to be a real rethink of how we manage the grass and the grass areas,” said the SDLP representative. “It is unsightly. If you’re coming in from Armagh to Portadown in the mornings – and I’m sure there’s many officers drive past it – that nice big roundabout, the weeds are bursting through the kerbs. It’s horrible looking.
“We can’t blame DfI. These are issues that are council responsibility and we can’t get somebody to go out and sweep and tidy up!”
Councillor O’Hanlon also reiterated calls for potholes to be filled on the avenue approach to the Palace in Armagh, having had to “dodge” them when attending a meeting there that morning.
“That’s not something that we can do, but surely it’s something we can get a contractor in to fix the potholes,” he added.
Interim Chief Executive Charlene Stoops confirmed that the head of service was “in the process of preparing a report around grass cutting”, while the issue of potholes at the Palace were also being looked at.
She also confirmed, in response to requests from Alliance Councillor Robbie Alexander, that grass cutting schedules were being looked at.
While the debate had primarily focussed on council-owned lands, DUP Councillor Peter Haire was not letting the DfI completely off the hook, flagging the state of footpaths and roads.
“It’s crazy,” he said. “I sent an email on the 29th of May, asking when the spraying would start, and they told me it would be starting at the end of May and it was going to take six to eight weeks and a further 10 or 14 days. That’s just not good enough. The place is a mess, an absolute mess.
“Everybody thinks it’s the council’s problem and it’s not the council’s problem. It’s DfI roads and it needs done right away.”
DUP Councillor Kyle Moutray also believed that many hands make light work and agreed “outside agencies” could be considered to help keep the situation under control.
“When it comes to even things like cemeteries, that’s something that I think we need to give real consideration to,” he stated.
He recalled how a football pitch in the Corcrain area of Portadown last year was left in such a state that locals took the lead.
“It was the case that children had to go out and actually mow that grass,” he explained. “ 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 as a councillor is whenever I go to the council, I can’t get a timeline for when grass cutting takes place in estates on council maintained grass. I can get that from the Housing Executive and I have got that recently.
“That’s my concern. I really think 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.”
