Councillor orders immediate resumption of grass cutting in Podsmead

A councillor has ordered the restarting of grass cutting in an area of Gloucester following complaints from residents.

Concerns were raised earlier this year by the residents of Oakland’s Park in Podsmead after the grass in the area was left uncut.

Upon investigation, it was revealed that the land was owned by the original developer, Persimmon Homes.

The developer would either be asked to maintain the land or transfer it to Gloucester City Council for adoption.

Councillor Sebastian Field, the new Liberal Democrat cabinet member for the environment at Gloucester City Council, said: “It came to light that in November 2023, the previous Conservative cabinet member for the environment had decided that the council would no longer maintain land owned by private developers.

“Instead, developers would be encouraged to manage their own land or hand it over to the council for adoption, along with a ‘commuted sum’ to cover future maintenance costs.”

While the policy was intended to save money, it proved ineffective.

“In practice, the developers had little incentive to respond to our requests, resulting in areas being neglected, including in Abbey, Barnwood, Hucclecote, and Oakland’s Park,” Councillor Field said.

“Local residents were not informed of the change in policy, which compounded the issue, leaving many to assume that the council had simply abandoned the maintenance of the grass after in some cases 40 years of upkeep.”

As the new cabinet member responsible for the local environment, Councillor Field took immediate action to resolve the issue.

“I instructed the council to resume grass-cutting, and Oakland’s Park has now been re-added to the regular maintenance schedule, as well as the other parts of the city,” Councillor Field added.

“While we might want to have areas in our city where grass is allowed to grow longer to benefit wildlife, these areas would need to include maintenance strips and proper signage to indicate they are part of a deliberate conservation effort – not just give the impression that they’ve been abandoned by the council.

“We will keep working with the developers to agree on future maintenance proposals, wherever we can.”