Last updated:
25th September 2024
Grass cutting
We are responsible for maintaining over 380 hectares of land across the borough which is equal to nearly 600 football pitches. Our grounds maintenance provider Tivoli Group Ltd maintains grass and vegetation within our parks, open spaces and highway verges.
How often is grass cut?
Most grass across the borough is cut up to 4 times per year during the grass growing season (March to October). Some areas may be cut on a more frequent basis, such as large recreational open spaces or if there is health and safety requirement (e.g. obstruction to sight lines on road junctions).
To support the Council in much needed savings, changes to grass cutting were approved by the Executive Committee on 26 October 2023 following a recommendation from the Community and Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 2 October 2023.
- Read the Agenda for Community and Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Monday, 2 October, 2023, 7pm
- Read the Agenda for Executive on Thursday, 26 October, 2023, 7pm
How grass is cut
- Grass cutting crews work in teams of 2 or 3 and will usually include 1 ride on mower and 1 or 2 strimmer or blower operators. Due to the speed of the ride-on mower, the strimmer or blower operators will often be slower. The distance gap between them can be up to 1 working day. This means, there may be short intervals when an area has not been fully cut.
- How frequent the grass is cut depends on the weather, staff levels and machinery.
- Grass clippings will not be collected and will be left to compost down. This is a service that we have not previously provided.
- We avoid cutting grass right up to the base of trees and instead allow the grass to grow to prevent possible damage to trees.
- Grass cutting crews will avoid cutting the grass where there is known rare wildflowers, birds or animals, this is to protect the species for a duration of time e.g. until the end of bird nesting season.
Report missed grass cutting
If you believe an area of council-owned land has been missed, we'll check the area and raise this with our contractors, so it is not missed during the next grass cutting round.
