Dorset villages look magnificent in spring and summer. The hedgerows are bursting with wildflowers, the birds are singing … and my phone is buzzing. Every year when people emerge from winter hibernation they take a look at the verges around the village and get annoyed about the state of them. But whose job is it to mow the verge?
Well, multiple sources as it stands. Verges are owned by several organisations, including parish councils. Some are maintained by Dorset Council, who are great at leaving a wide strip for wildlife. Others are owned by housing associations, and some are under private ownership. The final group of verges comes under the remit of maintenance companies, contracted by developers to keep places tidy for residents.
No Mow May?
When I get a call from an irate resident about the state of the grass verges and paths, the first thing I check is ownership … and then the fun begins.
‘No Mow May’ is one excuse we get a lot. To be fair, verges left au naturel can look incredible. The Blandford bypass with its annual flower show of oxeye daisies is a good example.
Lots of residents support the concept of No Mow May – until they end up with a messy verge next door to them, or one that spoils their view. It’s usually the same people who complain about the kerbs being sprayed, won’t join a community village tidy up and then complain about weeds …
We also have a few grassy verges masquerading as wildflower gardens that tend to be the legacy of a developer or an overzealous nature fanatic sprinkling the wrong kind of seed. Residents have been fobbed off by being told that it’s ‘wildflowers’ when really it’s just one almighty mess.
We have a team of mowers who maintain our parish land and they do a fantastic job. We also have a few resident sheep who keep grass down. And when they do come out, the teams from the housing associations and council are generally helpful. They just can’t be everywhere all of the time – but do their best with the resources they have.
You are never going to get a weekly service, because the resources just aren’t there.
As a parish, we also have to be careful about maintaining land belonging to another organisation because of the insurance issues. People don’t realise they can report verges to the council or housing association – but with the confusion over ownership it’s hardly surprising they don’t. The parish council is always first in the firing line.
Could we simply subcontract all this work to the parish council so it gets done properly? We tried that, requesting to take over the management of the verges getting the most complaints. But the owner organisations were reluctant to agree. Are they planning to build a house on that verge? Nothing would surprise me … And so we have this stand off each spring when the residents tire of No Mow May or can’t see round a junction.
No hidden rocks
Dealing with verges laid on newish estates can also be an issue, especially when the pristine landscaping promised in the marketing brochure has not materialised. Developers are definitely not your average garden club member, and won’t be getting gold at Chelsea Flower Show any time soon. Most of them can’t tell the difference between a dock and a delphinium, and a lot of new-build sites have trademark ‘rubble gardens’, constructed from waste building materials.
Naturally, the maintenance companies contracted to keep them tidy don’t want to damage their mowers and gardening equipment on the rocks hidden beneath the weeds. At this point there is usually another stand off as to who owns that particular patch of grass. Sadly, new residents end up paying a maintenance charge for these grounds and in general get poor value for their money.
What would help in this situation is for decent landscaped grounds to be established in the first place (hint: how about saving the topsoil so plants can grow!); and then regular inspections from the planning team as people start to move in, setting clear expectations. There are quite a few roads and facilities that have not been signed off by the council or transferred to local authority ownership. While it might not make a difference right now, it most certainly will in the middle of the winter when residents want a grit bin.
No pavement blackberries
It’s the little things like this that need to be sorted promptly so everyone is clear who is responsible for maintenance.
However, the residents who annoy me personally the most are those who do not maintain the area around their own property, and think it’s ‘someone else’s job’ to get rid of a weed or two. While some people have disabilities and cannot cut hedges or mow grass, some are too idle to snip a bramble growing across the pavement outside their home. While I’m very partial to blackberries, I want to be able to walk on a pavement without getting scratched. If everyone simply kept their own properties tidy, the village would already look significantly better. And that goes for those who rent as well as those who own their own homes.
At the risk of being called a grumpy old councillor, I’d really like to see clearer management of areas like grass verges. If all the disparate organisations worked together, we could probably do more for wildlife and have well maintained public areas. If parishes were properly engaged in the planning process we could also come up with some kind of agreement to maintain new areas, instead of chasing elusive contractors. OK. I’m off to do some weeding in the garden.
The Dorset Insider lifts the lid on local politics with frankness and a touch of mischief. Penned by an anonymous parish councillor whose identity is known to and trusted by the editorial team, it offers unvarnished opinion from the front line. Expect candour, clarity and the occasional raised eyebrow.
