Council vows to maintain grass cutting in Borough

The Council said it is maintaining both its own land as well as non-council land across the borough, despite a moratorium on services by the Department of Regional Development.

The public have been angry that the borough has become a jungle in some parts due to the lack of grass cutting.

However, in a statement, the Council said it is continuing to maintain the service.

A council spokesperson said: “Because of the high profile media campaign on grass cutting people will know of the pressures the system is facing, but Members wanted people to know that locally they are providing a service in the interim.

“Senior council staff are meeting with DRD officials to discuss how this issue will be resolved going forward.”

Lord Mayor of Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon, Councillor Darryn Causby said: “We didn’t want our ratepayers to suffer because of Departmental budget cuts. We know people across the borough have great civic pride, so we wanted to maintain a standard our ratepayers expect.

“Of course this comes at a cost, with 14-16 cuts per year between February and November, but we will maintain this level as long as we can.”

TransportNI normally pays councils a fee for cutting grass along roadside verges but, despite the funding being withdrawn, the council has maintained its usual level of service on land it owns and on TransportNI lands council had a previous agreement to cut.

In the Craigavon area the council is responsible for cutting 5,000,158m2 of grass.