West Suffolk Council apologises for grass cutting delays in Bury St Edmunds as Moreton Hall residents take action
Overgrown grass across Bury St Edmunds has seen residents take matters into their own hands, as West Suffolk Council apologised for mowing delays.
This week, a ‘jungle’ play area was transformed by Moreton Hall estate residents who feared the council would never cut the overgrown grass and weeds.
Pauline Tarbit took her lawnmower up to the Heldhaw Road play area on Sunday evening.
On Monday, Councillor Frank Warby joined the battle and used his strimmer to help make the area more manageable for domestic mowers.
Then, on Monday evening, Pauline was joined by Mike Moody and Linda King to complete the job.
Cllr Warby said: “The play area was like a jungle and we’ve been on to the council for weeks about it. The whole estate is looking quite shabby. There are branches hanging over paths hitting cyclists over the face and forcing people to walk in the road.
“Thanks so much to Pauline, Linda and Mike for all their efforts.”
Elsewhere on the estate, house developer Taylor Wimpey still owns land off Lady Miriam Way, where the Flying Fortress play area is overgrown. It said this week it expects the land to be handed to the local authority by the end of the summer.
A Taylor Wimpey spokesperson said: “We’d like to apologise to the local community for the appearance of some areas of open space on the Moreton Hall estate. We can confirm a contractor has been appointed to attend to the land we own at Lady Miriam Way every two weeks until it is transferred to the local authority.”
Elsewhere in Bury, Cllr David Nettleton contacted the council last week regarding the state of the northern side of town.
He said: “The grass is continuing to grow all over the town. I don’t know if they are trying to let it grow on purpose or if there is some sort of problem at the council. I have tried emailing them to no avail.
“Diane Hind, my fellow Tollgate councillor, has also been asking questions but we’ve had no answers. We are perplexed.”
A West Suffolk Council spokesman said:”We would like to apologise to residents for some of the delays to grass cutting this year.
“We have had changes in key staff to deal with while the recent spell of weather has also been challenging in terms of hampering grass cutting and accelerating growth. Staff have been working weekends to catch up with our three-week cycle of grass cutting.”
- Where does West Suffolk Council need to send its mowing teams? Send pictures of neglected areas, along with details of where they were taken, to news@buryfreepress.co.uk
