Yahoo News Fury over 'eyesore public spaces' in Nuneaton and Bedworth as council blames wet weather
Council land in Nuneaton and Bedworth has been left looking like an 'eyesore' due issues with grounds maintenance. Councillor Sue Markham said that they had received complaints from residents about the state of some public spaces in the borough.
She said this was due to 'cutting and strimming' issues related to the council's grounds maintenance contractor, Glendale. The councillor demanded answers about the situation.
"The main cause of concerns to residents is the fact that the contractor is clearly not following the contract specifications with respect of strimming immediately after grass cutting," Cllr Markham said.
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She continued: "While I understand that there is a separate team for strimming, and it has been very wet. it is absolutely clear that strimming is not taking place after the cut. As a consequence, numerous pieces of council and are now an absolute eyesore."
Cllr Markham asked Cllr Tim Jenkins, cabinet member for leisure, communities and health, if the Town Hall had issued any rectification or default notices over the works since May, and asked if the policy of not paying until a job is finished still stands.
'Extenuating circumstances'
In response, Cllr Jenkins said that the strimmimg should be completed within 24 hours within mowing and said the policy on paying when a job is complete remains in place. But he added: "As we are all aware and as you (Cllr Markham) stated in your question, it has been an extremely wet year this year.
"We have had unprecedented rain over the winter period which continued into April and into May - we had a 147 per cent increase on rail fall in May. So there were extenuating circumstances. A lot of the ground was very wet, they couldn't get onto it and this has had a knock-on effect.
"The other factor is, under the previous administration, the contractor was requested to supply and do all of the bedding plants. And there were issues with the supply of that
"So all of the bedding plants arrived within two days, so people had to be pulled off strimming and mowing to facilitate the planting of the bedding plants, as they can only be stored for very short time or they would have died."
He said that these 'extenuating circumstances' meant that there had been no rectification or default notices issued. "But we will monitor that going forward," Cllr Jenkins concluded.
