Petition: Reverse Decision To Reduce Grass Cutting

[Clarkester]

I'm not sure why, but the field between Yazor Road and Moor Farm / Coniston Walk was being cut as I went to work this morning.

It's only about three weeks since it was last hacked to almost nothing.

Yet the greens on Derwent Drive / Coniston Walk etc are now knee high (as is everywhere else...)

Special field maybe?

[Biomech]

A permanently runny nose and itchy red eyes is a very difficult look to try and carry off with any aplomb!!

 

 

 

Not to mention trying to do manual labour and customer facing services.

I'm dreading the day when they finally cut it and kick up all the pollen into the air :/

[flamboyant]

Clarkester, the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing lol

[ragwert]

Has anyone seen any grass cutting by Balfour botch up Beatty?
They were supposed to be grass cutting North East of Hereford this week and North Hereford,Tupsley,College est etc next week.

[Biomech]

Has anyone seen any grass cutting by Balfour botch up Beatty?

They were supposed to be grass cutting North East of Hereford this week and North Hereford,Tupsley,College est etc next week.

 

 

 

I've only seen "private" contractors doing the work they are contracted to do while the council and Ball-flour Beatty sit on their arses doing nothing

[dippyhippy]

I did chuckle to myself earlier.

 

Ventured down to Sainsburys, and on the patch of grass where the cider press and Walenty Pytel sculpture of the woodpecker are sited, a Balfour Beatty truck had pulled up and a chap was merrily watering the marigolds.....oblivious to the fact that they are barely visible to the naked eye because the grass is getting so long!!

 

Soon, the woodpecker will disappear from view!

 

No sign of any grass cutting in and around Tupsley by Balfour Beatty as yet. I went to visit my old Mum yesterday and she's not happy!

 

Not far from her house is a large patch of nettles...the sort Bobby is rather fond of! They are huge....I am 5ft. 4'', and these nettles came up as far as my chin!!

 

Surely some sort of record????

[megilleland]

Balfour Beatty spotted today on the service road at Holme Lacy Road and Putson Avenue. The tractor driver had to run over it twice to cut it down. Nobody to pick it up. Herefordshire Housing were cutting along Marlbrook Road and The Academy. Several operatives working and all the cut grass put into the back of a truck.

 

[Biomech]

Call me insane, but surely the HC can cut this grass and by selling the cuttings to compost manufacturers in bulk, recuperate money - or even make a small profit?

[Roger]

Surely some sort of record????

 

No. There's a Council owned Triffid behind my house that's taller than me ... And I'm over 6 ft. tall ... 

 

Nobody to pick it up.

 

Usual Council tactic before they stopped cutting it completely. 'Cut and drop' technique. This is fine if the cut and drop is frequent enough. If it leaves a huge pile of stuff that turns to hay then it's not a good tactic. 

 

Some areas have previously been given the 'collect' tactic by the Council which has included Victoria Street just north of the New Bridge. 

[twowheelsgood]

Call me insane, but surely the HC can cut this grass and by selling the cuttings to compost manufacturers in bulk, recuperate money - or even make a small profit?

 

I've already suggested that the larger areas could be mown for hay - farmer gets the hay, we get the grass cut, council get the job done for nothing - everyone's a winner ... I took a photo of the land south of Newton Farm - there's 100's of acres of good organic hay there for the taking.

[megilleland]

We'll mow it ourselves then, councillors tell Balfour Beatty

 

Bradford on Avon councillors were so fed-up with overgrown grass being ignored by a county contractor they turned out to cut it themselves.

 

Now they have sent Balfour Beatty’s chairman a bill for £250.

 

Leading by example in Wiltshire - great respect. I wonder what the chances of seeing The Cabinet here cutting the grass. I bet it will be long after we are all pushing up the daisies - if you can see them! You need to scroll down to see article.

[Biomech]

Should be A LOT more than £250 on that invoice, £25k would be a start.

Needless to say that our council don't even have the balls to enforce their own contracts let alone take action against all of the infringements

[megilleland]

Leading by example in Wiltshire - great respect. I wonder what the chances of seeing The Cabinet here cutting the grass. I bet it will be long after we are all pushing up the daisies - if you can see them! You need to scroll down to see article.

 

Someone in HC must have been issued a directive to get out there quick:

 

Council News 20th June 2014

 

Councillor joins highways team - on behalf of Balfour Beatty Living Places

    

Herefordshire Council’s portfolio holder for highways, Paul Rone, is getting a unique insight into the way Balfour Beatty Living Places (BBLP) is operating by joining crews at work.

 

For his first assignment he became part of a two-person team dispatched to deal with fly tipping at Perton, east of Hereford, where an assortment of rubbish had been dumped in a country lane.

 

Wearing high visibility clothing, Cllr Rone set about the clean-up to leave the site pristine before taking the 200 kilogrammes of rubbish to the tip at Rotherwas.

 

“To collect a little over 200 kilogrammes of rubbish, which is a fifth of a tonne, it took two people and a vehicle all morning and then there was the administrative side. It costs hundreds of pounds to clean up what could very easily have been taken to the local tip by the person who dumped it for nothing,†he said.

 

He added: “Every year Herefordshire residents are picking up a six figure bill thanks to illegal fly tipping. It costs us £5,500 a week for reactionary cleaning such as fly tipping and disposing of household rubbish dumped by litter bins. “

 

By shadowing staff at BBLP, which is contracted by the Council to look after highways maintenance and improvement works, street lighting and street cleaning, as well as public rights of way, parks and open spaces, Cllr Rone is learning how the work is being carried out.

 

“The whole idea is to find out what happens from start to finish. From what I’ve found out so far, it is a highly professional service and makes sure every person who is going out cleaning or enforcing is trained and supplied with the goods and equipment they need to do the job.â€

 

The Council is making budget savings of £33m over the next two years and has prioritised spending on vulnerable children and adults, the creation of jobs and homes and on roads

 

Grass cutting is one of the services to be affected and has reduced grass cuts from seven to three a year in some places and some locations have been excluded from the schedule. 

 

Cllr Rone said they were learning the lessons of this season and would carry them forward to next year, but added groups and individuals could get involved in taking care of their areas.

 

“It is utter rubbish to say that residents aren’t allowed to cut the grass and that the Council will take you to court. If you want to take responsibility for the land outside your house, or for the walkway you use to cut through to the children’s play area, by all means do it sensibly, do it with great thought and consideration for those around you and for yourself, but by all means you carry out that cut.â€

 

Grass cutting maps, timetables and DIY guides are available on the Council’s website. https://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/grass-cutting

 

Next month BBLP will start to repair the county's roads in a £20m programme of resurfacing which will be delivered over the next two years.

 

Looks like they are fighting back against the complaints.

[Bill Thomas]

I cannot believe Hereford looks right now, I have NEVER seen it so bad, I walked to Tesco Belmont today and sae grass over a metre in height, it ridiculous.

[Denise Lloyd]

It truly looks awful everywhere in Herefordshire.  Even areas that have been cut by BB stooks of grass are left standing no strimming is done it just looks what it is tatty.  The splays are not even being cut in many places.  This is such false economy certain areas of grass will take a long time to recover other areas will probably have to be reseeded.  

[chrisbull]

It's the same all over the country went to bristol last week and they have made cuts to services there it's just not Hereford.

[Roger]

[Roger]

There's something yellow under the grass on this island on Penn Grove Road junction... I'm not sure what it is ...

 

 

Admirals Close ... Next cut is scheduled for the last week in August. So best of luck with that one!

 

[Jim Kenyon]

I'm fed up with this grass issue I told Tony Johnson 4 weeks ago the way ahead to sort it this is my lastest email to PAUL Rone hopefully he can drive this into him as he is one of his own "Tory"

 

Hi paul

 

Good to catch up earlier this morning and excellent news on the additional monies coming in for pot hole repairs, can you please now lobby your leader to look into transferring some of the revenue budget set aside for Belfour Beatty roads and use it on the grounds maintenance,we all know about the grass but the hedges and trees are growing be it a slower rate but growing all the same,there are no scheduled works on any of that! we can't have trees looked after by residents unless there were very strict controls or we would quite quickly lose a lot of trees.

Can I suggest a reasonable sum of £200,000 which could using the open book policy arrangements we have with BBLP go a long way and get fast results using local companies.

Finally BBLP are still struggling with the contract what ever you are told by the company the blokes on the ground are the voices we need to be listening to and also the residents I was down to only every other person I bumped into this week mentioning the grass cutting.

Please keep up the good work.

 

Jim

Finally with a different administration things would not have gone this far the sooner they are removed the better!

[megilleland]

Jim, I don't think he is listening!

 

 

 

[Colin James]

A visitor to Hereford wrote this on our Facebook page today:

 

 

Hi Hereford Voice, Just spent the day being shown around your city. A beautiful city ruined by poorly maintained parks (King George V) and riverbanks, Why is it not mowed?? would look 1000 times better and Castle Green a perfect place for a picnic ruined by stubbly poorly maintained grounds. I could not believe the state of the pool behind Castle House, Is that the local tip?? what a mess!! I have read a bit about cuts but it surely will not help with costs if things are allowed to deterriate and scare off tourists, quite the opposite, no tourists no income, simple as. I can only see these potentialy beautiful and precious green spaces being ruined and then some councilor will take a back hander and sell it for development because no one uses it, not a planned scheme of course (i hope), but why else let these spaces go to rack and ruin. I had also noticed that the verges were poorly maintained and worsed of all, concidering the temperatures at present, the amount of dead cut grass lying around like the fire brigade need more fires to fight! Shame on the council no respsct for their own city, they need replacing with someone that actually gives a damn.

[megilleland]

At least the visitors can see the outcome even if our cabinet can't. Not only in Hereford, but all over the country the councils have been told not to cut the grass. This neglect has got to be a vote winner for the other parties. It is no good leaving it to the local Cabinet, Pickles and Cameron who just want to cover the countryside witn concrete and waste money fighting other peoples' wars. Time to pull the drawbridge up and get this country sorted out.

[Roger]

This neglect has got to be a vote winner for the other parties.

 

I'm well aware of who my Councillors are for where I live. At the next vote (unless they come knocking on my front door with a plan to sort this grass out) then they won't have any prospect of getting my vote. I might just vote UKIP as a protest vote ~ if the option is available to me. I'm no fan of that Party but they can't be any worse than the current lot.

[Denise Lloyd]

Mr Pickles told the Telegraph: “Senior town hall pay was allowed to spiral out of control under the Labour Government and we have been very clear that councils need to show much greater restraint.

“All local authorities should be focusing resources on protecting frontline services and keeping council tax down rather than throwing away taxpayers’ money. Councils are now legally required to open up their books to public scrutiny, and councillors now have the powers to stop exorbitant pay deals – they should use them.† 

Perhaps Mr Pickles should come to Herefordshire and have a look around.

[megilleland]

I'm well aware of who my Councillors are for where I live. At the next vote (unless they come knocking on my front door with a plan to sort this grass out) then they won't have any prospect of getting my vote. I might just vote UKIP as a protest vote ~ if the option is available to me. I'm no fan of that Party but they can't be any worse than the current lot.

 

Unfortunately voting UKIP in Herefordshire won't get the Tories out it will just split the vote and let them back in. All it needs is only one opposition group on the ballot paper to kick the Tories out into the long grass.

[dippyhippy]

Vote IOC.....that's my advice Roger!

 

The only party, in my humble opinion, who are organised and cohesive enough to be a real challenge.

The more Jims, Marks and Liz's we have the better.

 

Don't get me wrong, there is some "dead wood' even in IOC. Sharron Michaels would not be missed - you can't miss what you haven't had. But for the most part, they are a strong bunch of individuals with the integrity we so badly need to help et us out of this mess.

 

I would also hope that once in power, they will start to ask then questions we have waited so patiently for answers to.

 

Who has had a substantial pay rise, whilst the restructuring programme has been in full swing ?

 

Why does Balfour Beatty appear to be calling all the shots?

 

Why are we ploughing ahead with this ludicrously expensive and outdated incinerator?

 

And how many hats does Geoff Hughes actually own?

 

This list is by no means exhaustive!!!

[Cambo]

“To collect a little over 200 kilogrammes of rubbish, which is a fifth of a tonne, it took two people and a vehicle all morning and then there was the administrative side. It costs hundreds of pounds to clean up what could very easily have been taken to the local tip by the person who dumped it for nothing,†he said.

 

Just picked this out from an earlier post from megilleland about cllr Paul Rone clearing rubbish

I've got to say if it takes two people all morning to clean 200kg of rubbish then it's not being done very efficiently as that is not a great amount of rubbish to clean up. I often have rolls of lead that weight more than that & it doesn't take me all morning to move it!

[Jim Kenyon]

The cabinet are voting Thursday about transferring extra money into the grass cutting budget lets hope they make the right decision,then it's not about throwing money about but spending it wisely for maxim effect and I have some ideas on that again let's make them listen they read this blog so please keep the pressure up guys.

[gdj]

This might be a one off anecdote or it might be part of a bigger picture.

 

A resident of Tupsley saw workmen arriving with grass cutting equipment and was pleased because the verges are so overgrown.  She stopped to ask them and it turned out they were from the Housing Association and were going to cut the grass in front of the Housing Association houses (between the pavement and the houses) but not the grass between the pavement and the road or on the other side of the road because that was for the council/BBLP.  They also said that in the past they would help each other out but now they were having to only do their own bits.

 

I can see the situation where BBLP are in one part of the city cutting their bit of grass and ignoring the Housing Association grass across the road and in another part the reverse is happening.  The marginal cost of cutting the other bit of grass would be negligible compared with the cost of getting there and providing the equipment but in this council world of complex contracts and targets it doesn't happen.

 

Sigh.

[Biomech]

 I often have rolls of lead that weight more than that & it doesn't take me all morning to move it! 

 

 

Only because you have to get out quickly before the church pastor spots you ;)

 

This might be a one off anecdote or it might be part of a bigger picture.

 

 

I've seen areas where this has happened so guessing it is true.

 

 

The marginal cost of cutting the other bit of grass would be negligible compared with the cost of getting there and providing the equipment but in this council world of complex contracts and targets it doesn't happen.

 

 

You're right, it would be easier for them to cut that as well, but then they are doing another companies work for them while the other company gets all of the money. And that's just wrong. Not to mention compounding the current trend of us paying someone for a service and them finding a way not to do the work.. because "well, HH do that now, so we don't have to ££££"