Report a grounds maintenance issue

We aim to cut our grassed areas up to 13 times between mid March and mid October. This means that the grass is scheduled to be cut once every 3 weeks, however this may take longer due to bad weather, machine issues, or available resources.

There are other reasons, besides bad weather, why grassed areas may not be cut, or it takes longer for them to be cut. It may be that access to the grassed area is blocked by cars or vehicles, or there is litter or fly tipping on the grassed area.

If this happens our teams will report this to the relevant services, and the team will ensure the area is cut in the next scheduled visit. Please allow up to five weeks, before letting us know a cut has been missed. .

There are different grass cutting schedules for each grassed area depending on its location and purpose:

Sports pitches:

• Up to 21 cuts per year between March and October (weather dependent)
• Average of every 14 days

Bowling / Golf Greens / Cricket Squares:

• Two cuts per week between March and October
• Cut from third week of April  – first week of September

Parks, open spaces and public grassed areas:

• An average of 13 cuts per year between March and October
• Average of every 20 days

Biodiversity areas:

• One cut per year in October

Back up strimming:

• One per year

Weed spraying around obstacles:

• One per year between April and May

Edging of grass:

• Every four years, between October - March

When it rains for an extended period it can delay the grass cutting schedule. The reason for this delay is often that the ground is too wet for our equipment to be used for several days partly due to the weight of our machines.

When this does happen, we try our best to get to the delayed grassed areas as soon as possible. Please bear with us as we try to catch up. When we are expecting poor weather, we often cut the grass shorter to give more time between cuts.

Please allow up to five weeks before letting us know a cut has been missed. .

Grass cuttings are not removed from grassed areas once they have been cut. The reason for this is firstly because the cuttings naturally bio-degrade and feed the existing grass, and secondly because it would be extremely labour intensive to collect and dispose of the cuttings for all 13.5 million square metres of grass in the borough.

If a lot of grass cuttings end up on a hard surface (like a path or road) the operator will blow it back onto the cut grassed area.

Please only contact us about grass cuttings if you have a safety concern, using the form in the safety concern section below.

Hedges and shrubs are routinely pruned once a year as a part of our winter maintenance schedule which takes place between October and March each year. If we identify hedges or shrubs which are a safety concern to the public they can be trimmed back outside of these times. Please only contact us about hedge and shrub maintenance if you have a safety concern, using the form in the safety concern section below.

Along with pruning every year the following is carried out as a part of the winter maintenance programme:

• Weeds in shrubs are removed once per year
• Shrub areas are treated with herbicide once per year
• Some shrub areas are mulched with recycled chipped arisings once per year

We cannot prune or trim back hedges or shrubs that are on private property without speaking to the owner first. If you believe hedges or shrubs on a private property are a safety concern please report them using the ‘Report problems with roads, pavement and traffic’ form.

Back up strimming is done once a year. Areas that need back up strimming are difficult to access and often further cuts are not needed.

Please only contact us about strimming if you have a safety concern, using the form in the safety concern section below.

• Planting (of 104,000 bedding plants) starts in October
• Plants are removed from May
• Weeding, litter removal, deadheading, and watering is carried out when necessary.

Please only contact us about floral displays if you have a safety concern, using the form in the safety concern section below.

• Planting (of 115,000 bedding plants) starts in June
• Plants are removed from October
• Weeding, litter removal, deadheading, and watering is carried out when necessary.

Please only contact us about floral displays if you have a safety concern, using the form in the safety concern section below.

We have floral planters at different locations across the borough:

• 198 floral containers
• 136 barrier planter liners

Please only contact us about floral containers or barrier planters if you have a safety concern, using the form in the safety concern section below.

• Cut down in July, grass cuttings are left and included in mowing programme from August

Please only contact us about bulb areas if you have a safety concern, using the form in the safety concern section below.

Weeds are sprayed three times a year. We will carry out an additional spray if the area requires it.