Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Resident demands action to tackle overgrown weeds
Tackling Canterbury’s growing problem with weeds should be taken more seriously, says a life-long city resident.
Lynette Coleman said the central reservations and roundabouts on the major routes into the city are an overgrown eyesore, giving visitors a bad impression.
“I’ve lived in Canterbury all my life and I’ve never seen anything like it,” she said.
“To leave Rheims Way, St George’s roundabout and Sturry Road looking like this, it’s disgusting.”
Mrs Coleman, of Pinetree Avenue, says when she contacted the city council about the problem she was told it was Kent County Council’s responsibility.
“Since KCC took over, Canterbury’s been left to become an eyesore,” she added.
“Civic pride comes into this. I would like to hear our city council making an effort to regain control of how our city looks.”
Cllr Michael Dixey (Lib Dem), whose Westgate ward is among the worst-affected by weeds, suggests city bosses should have been chasing KCC.
He said: “Canterbury is a huge tourist destination and we should be ashamed but if city councillors try and bring this sort of thing up, we don’t get heard. We’re not even on their radar.
“The best people to bring this up are the city council’s senior management. They need to tell KCC it’s not acceptable. It’s not ducking out of responsibility, it’s the best way of getting things done.”
City council spokesman Rob Davies says the issue has already been raised with county officials.
“We agree that it does not look great,” he added.
“We speak to KCC about matters all the time, of which this is one. It’s nothing to do with not having civic pride.
“We understand it’s going to be done shortly and we are pleased to hear that.”
KCC spokesman John Todd says weeds on Kent’s roads and pavements are sprayed once a year between mid-May and the end of July.
“The timing depends on weather conditions,” he continued. “It takes two to four weeks to spray roads in one district. Some roads will be treated after others and could have more weed growth by the time they are sprayed.”
As the Gazette went to press yesterday, Mr Todd could not confirm when Canterbury’s weeds would be sprayed.
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