Does your council remove weeds ?

50Twuncle

My council has stopped it's removal of weeds from footpaths and kerbs to save money... except for noxious weeds - they leave them to grow

amersall

Ours are still being done, for now.

Aylesbury_Duck

No, and I'm glad about it. In our area we have a large and growing social and elderly care problem which the council don't have the funds to address. We have a failing children's service as well. I'm quite happy that money is saved on trivial stuff like weeds.

Despite us having some fundamental societal problems that need addressing, our local press and social media is full of people who think that leaving grass verges until the grass gets knee-high is disgraceful, not what they pay their council tax for, etc, etc. These are typically the wealthy pensioners who will choose our next PM in the coming weeks and who only notice the verges growing when they're back temporarily from their regular cruises.

onomatopoeia99

Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »

These are typically the wealthy pensioners who will choose our next PM in the coming weeks and who only notice the verges growing when they're back temporarily from their regular cruises.

Do these people give their age, holiday plans and political party membership when they write in to the local press then? :eek:

Nick_C

Our (pretty useless) council stopped about a year ago. I deal with weeds in the street outside my own home. (And pick up litter. And cut back nettles around the litter bin so people can get to it.)

Is a false economy. Untreated weeds will damage the pavement and gutters, and lead to more expensive remedial work in the long term.

I have every sympathy for people who pay council tax but see their local council neglecting the basics.

Dan-Dan

Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »

No, and I'm glad about it. In our area we have a large and growing social and elderly care problem which the council don't have the funds to address. We have a failing children's service as well. I'm quite happy that money is saved on trivial stuff like weeds.

Problem is, this is failing too...

Davesnave

Your post contains a logical discontinuity, because if weeds are being left, all of them, not just the 'noxious' ones, will remain.

I'm not sure what 'noxious' might be in this context. If it means 'poisonous,' then our Devon lanes are full of 'noxious' foxgloves just now, but I wouldn't be happy to see them culled.

The council where I am expects me to keep several hundred metres of road hedge maintained, which I do, using a light touch regime, but that's in autumn/winter. Right now, there are laws preventing people from hiring a contractor to do hedge trimming on public roads, but the council itself does some maintenance where a danger to traffic and pedestrians exists. Few people see this or even know it happens.

In Exeter a few weeks ago, I was pleased to see verges had been seeded with wild flowers and that local residents seemed to be joining-in with their own guerilla gardening. It all looked good. To stay looking good, such planting would need to be treated like a hay meadow and cut in July, but it would still offer good cost savings over regular mowing.

I'd guess if people want a future with pristine, neatly cut verges to tone-in nicely with their neatly trimmed gardens, their best bet would be to buy a new build on an estate with a nice high management charge and a committee they can join to organise it all. Or, if they're less well-off, they could go and live in those areas where people have concreted-over their gardens and open spaces and treat anything that dares to grow with deep suspicion.


Like everything else, attitudes to public space maintenance has gone through changes in the light of budgetary constraints and better understanding of the pressures on wildlife. Whether any individual agrees with them is probably irrelevant, but everyone can still improve the environment where they live, if they really want to.

Aylesbury_Duck

onomatopoeia99 wrote: »

Do these people give their age, holiday plans and political party membership when they write in to the local press then? :eek:

thanks to their social media profiles, pretty much, yes.

elsien

I'm not a pensioner, wouldn't vote Tory ever and have never been on a cruise, however I do get into the council when the grass is knee high, I'm fed up of litter picking because they're not doing it, and when the neglected look of the area encourages even more fly tipping. Because the more salubrious parts of town are better looked after which does annoy me.

Grass cutting and cleaning services come from the local council. Children's and social care services come from the county council. There isn't a causal effect on spending between the two.

troffasky

elsien wrote: »

I'm fed up of litter picking because they're not doing it

You're doing it because someone's littering, not because the council isn't picking it up.


I don't know if my council weeds the footway but last night when I was strimming in my front garden I noticed that there were quite a lot of weeds growing between the flags so I did them too. In all it probably cost me about 90s of my time and 0.025kWh of electricity. Thinking about it a little more, I'd rather do it myself than have an over-zealous council employee accidentally poison or maim my hedge!


Someone in the neighbourhood voluntarily picks up litter which I see her doing on Saturday mornings. I keep meaning to offer her a cup of tea.

sevenhills

The council do have a legal duty to litter pick, although it might not be up to most peoples standards.




In my area the council do spray the pavements, it does appear to be a waste, but the weeds can be quite rampant.
Since money got tight they have started to let some grassed areas grow longer, which helps bees and such due to the growing wild flowers.
It can be a pain getting wet feet when walking in the grass with the dog.
But more flowers is a necessity.