Lib Dems Welcome Tory u-Turn on Grass Cutting

The Liberal Democrats have welcomed a u-turn by the Tories on Leicestershire County Council on grass cutting. Following widespread complaints in spring over the standard of grass cutting, the Lib Dems called for a review of the service to determine whether reducing the number of grass cuts is really cost effective.

The Tories opposed this call, but since then a review has been carried out and found that reducing the number of grass cuts led to such a drop in quality that £100,000 was wasted in re-doing much of the work. The decision has now been made to invest that £100,000 in improving the service as the Lib Dems originally suggested.

David Bill said: "People judge us on our appearance and so it is with our towns and villages. We take pride in our homes and gardens but what message do we give out if we allow our highway verges to look neglected and overgrown?

Just as we argued that street lighting should be retained, we also argued that adequate grass cutting is essential.

We faced enormous criticism on both counts but we were proved right in the end."