Council facing complaints over suspension of grass cutting services

Grass cutting services have been suspended in a Black Country borough sparking complaints from residents.

The move was made by Sandwell Council in a bid redeploy grounds maintenance staff to other departments.

But this has raised concerns about the appearances of parks and potential fire hazards in the future.

Among the affected parks is Brunswick Park, in Wednesbury.

Ian McDermott, chairman of the Friends of Brunswick Park, said: "Sandwell is the only council in the West Midlands to stop grass-cutting services.

"The other councils are maintaining their parks in accordance with Government guidances.

"The Government said councils must maintain open spaces but Sandwell decided not to do that.

"They didn't furlough the parks staff but instead redeployed them elsewhere."

He continued: "After they stopped maintaining parks, the grass has got very long at Brunswick Park.

"It is full of litter and not a welcoming place."

Mess

Mr McDermott, a tree consultant, added: "When grass gets long and dry, there are lots of fires.

"When the park staff come back to work, there will be huge mounds of grass waiting for fires to start."

Andrew Nightingale, 37, a teacher who lives in Wednesbury, said: "I have been over Brunswick Park today and it is just a mess.

"It is jut not a nice place to go, it is overgrown. It's the only place we go outdoors, there is nowhere else."

West Bromwich West MP Shaun Bailey said: "We need to keep parks in places like Wednesbury and Tipton as vibrant and clean as possible.

"Grass cutting is a really important part of that. We are writing to the council to flag this up.

"This is important particularly coming out of lockdown where people will be coming back to towns for shopping."

In response to the Express & Star's story, a spokesman for Sandwell Council said: "Due to the current pandemic situation, all grounds maintenance activities have been suspended at this time.

"Employees have been re-deployed to support our essential services helping our vulnerable residents and are reacting to emergency situations."