Tidy-up squad bring lawn and order to street’s green space
Residents clear piles of mown grass after council cut
A band of residents in a Bridge of Allan street came together to tidy up - after a council cut left a grassy area in a mess.
The volunteers of Cawder Gardens were led by an elderly resident who started to clear away the mown grass after spotting a neighbour struggling to push a pram across the area.
A group of 12 locals soon come together to spend an afternoon edging the paths and raking up several bags of grass.
However, they were unable to drop off their bags at the tip without a letter of permission, leaving them with the cuttings until councillor Alasdair Tollemache organised an uplift.
Cawder Gardens resident Gaynor Hunter was one of the volunteers.
Gaynor told the Observer: “It was just horrendous with the grass not being picked up after it had been cut, it has only started happening quite recently.
“There are two benches there that have been donated by the Friends of
Bridge of Allan to try and encourage to come out and sit there after lockdown but people don’t want to come out because they can’t enjoy the view with such a mess.
“I understand that they are leaving some bits for the bees and so on but bees aren’t going to go near rotten grass.
“We went to the tip and they said we could not take grass there as it was not from a residence and we would need a letter of permission.
“We were then stuck with five very large bags of grass and felt deflated after all our hard work. It is their grass after all. They should be thanking us for clearing up their mess.”
A Stirling Council spokesperson said: “We apologise to the residents involved for the experience they’ve had.
“Grass cuttings are left during mowing season as they dry and usually disappear in a matter of days. However, there has been a delay in our cutting programme in some areas this month, resulting in the grass growing longer and larger cuttings being left behind.
“We realise this can be visually unappealing and at times messy.
“We are investigating the circumstances around the residents being prevented from disposing of the grass at our recycling centre, and can confirm that the Council has collected the grass from Cawder Gardens.”
It was just horrendous with the grass not being picked up after it had been cut