Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
KCC ‘failing in its duty’ as budgets trimmed but verges left overgrown
Furious Canterbury Lib Dems have issued a broadside against the county council after learning it is planning to reduce verge cutting along Kent’s roads and pathways.
Bridge parish councillor Mike Sole accuses the Conservativecontrolled authority of being irresponsible and abandoning its duties.
Kent County Council admitted this week that it would be doing less cutting due to “financial pressures”.
Mr Sole, a former city councillor, says overgrown hedges and uncut verges are a particular problem in the Canterbury district, where plants grow over pavements and obscure road signs.
He said: “Just a few years ago our verges were cut up to 16 times a year. In future it is proposed to be less than a third of this.
“Long grass on the verges and overgrown hedgerows restrict vision for drivers and obscure pathways for pedestrians and cyclists.
“KCC has a statutory duty to ensure road signs are kept clear of undergrowth and visible for drivers. The council is failing in its duty, particularly in rural roads around Canterbury.”
KCC is also hoping to encour- age parish councils to take on the responsibility of maintaining shrubs and hedgerows.
But Mr Sole said: “This will impose an additional burden on parish councils that have neither the resources nor professional staff to undertake the work. It will lead to increased council tax for parish residents.”
Lib Dem parliamentary spokesman for Canterbury, James Flanagan, argues that the reduction of the service is part of a wider pattern of cost-cutting by KCC.
He said: “Recently we have seen slashed rural mobile library services, rural lanes full of potholes, roads flooding because drains are not regularly cleaned, and now this is proposed. Conservative-run KCC is paying little regard to local villages and their residents.”
Kent County Council blamed financial constraints and accepted that it was urging smaller local authorities to carry out the cutting.
Spokesman Thom Morris said: “With winter being the thirdwarmest for the UK since records began and a wet start to summer, shrubs and grass are growing quicker than usual.
“KCC does not look after trees, hedges and shrubs on private land, which are often next to roads and pavements.
“Essentially, if your garden hedge or tree is overhanging a public footpath or road, it is your responsibility to cut it.
“District councils, parish coun- cils and housing associations are also responsible for their own cutting maintenance.
“For rural grass we own, we cut a metre wide strip next to the road edge using a tractor mounted mower. We do a single cut between May and September.
“In urban grass areas we wait until six weeks after the flowering period before cutting spring flowers, such as daffodils, so they will grow the following year.
“Due to ongoing financial pressures, urban grass maintenance will get between five and six cuts a year from 2017/18.”
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