Due to the government restrictions put in place to tackle the Coronavirus pandemic, many seasonal services provided by the council had to be delayed until the Scottish  Government deemed it safe and lifted the restrictions. Once deemed safe to resume these services, many changes had to be implemented to protect those council workers as well as service users. 

As a result in the delay of grass cutting not starting until June, grass areas are thicker and longer therefore harder to cut. In addition to this, by also following the guidance set out by the Scottish Government it is taking Six times longer than normal to cut the grass.

At a recent group leaders meeting various ways of improving the current situation were discussed. The Labour Group proposed that overtime and weekend work be used, this was the costliest option and would only bring forward the completion of the grass cutting by 5 to 10 days earlier than the current scheme. 

Alex Allison, Conservative Group Leader commented, “The Labour Proposal does not give tax payers good value for money. Council funds have been stretched this year and their costly proposal to bring forward the grass cutting completion by a week or so could put further financial burdens in other areas of council services.”

“What we (along with other group leaders) have agreed is to extend the contracts of the seasonal staff to get all grass areas back into their normal state before the start of the winter season at a lower cost than any other suggestion.”