Calls to delay grass scheme
SNP Councillor William Goldie, top and Sandy Watson of the Tories
The council’s SNP group has called for a delay to planned changes in relation to grass cutting services.
Following the 2019 decision to remove cutting service to non-council owned land, the SNP group is challenging the timing and decisions to implement this change.
SNP spokesman on environmental matters, Councillor William Goldie, said: “I am extremely disappointed that North Lanarkshire Council’s Labour/Tory administration have decided to implement this decision without communication and without consultation at a time of the greatest uncertainty in decades.
“To require residents to arrange the maintenance of ‘common land’ at a time when they could not even meet with members outwith their own household is concerning, particularly when they were not even informed of the service stopping.
“In many cases residents of North Lanarkshire Council are not aware of land ownership within these areas.
“This should not have been implemented at this time and certainly not before a review was carried out to establish who was responsible for the upkeep.”
However, the authority’s Conservative group have responded to the SNP’s calls.
They have argued that these cuts have had to be made due to a result of a lack of Scottish Government funding.
Conservative Group business manager, Councillor Sandy Watson, said: “This is yet another own goal by North Lanarkshire SNP. We all know that any difficult savings forced on this council is down to the savage cuts administered by the SNP led Scottish Government.
“If Councillor Goldie wishes to point the finger, he should do so at his own party which has continually failed to adequately resource North Lanarkshire Council over several years.
“It has to be noted that a saving relating to grass cutting was included within the SNP budget this year. Although it has been suggested by the SNP that we knew when this decision would be implemented, this is totally untrue. We called for a full consultation in 2019 as part of our budget and this does not appear to have taken place.
“However, unlike Councillor Goldie, I am working with council officers to alleviate the problems caused by the cessation on behalf of North Lanarkshire residents as they were not consulted before this saving was implemented.
“The SNP in North Lanarkshire needs to move away from the “Conservative/ Labour administration” nonsense. There is no coalition.”
This should not have been implemented at this time.”