A number of areas across Biddulph will only be cut once a year as opposed to the usual fortnightly cut to increase biodiversity and habitats, the scheme costing more money and not a cost-cutting measure.
Staffordshire Moorlands District Council said the move was about creating a more sustainable approach. Six pilot areas have been identified and include Halls Road Recreation Ground and Biddulph Valley Park in Biddulph, as well as Brough Park and Birchall Recreation Ground, Leek, and Glebe Road / Brookhouse Way and Stanfield Crescent Recreation Ground, Cheadle.
In areas where the site boundaries have “a low recreational value”, they will be left uncut, (writes local democracy reporter Jonathan Sutton).
Coun Matt Swindlehurst, Cabinet member for leisure and tourism, said: “The mowing regime will create changes in the way the landscape looks, with areas of short grass that perhaps are more familiar with us but also areas of longer grass. The idea for those is to encourage biodiversity and to create areas for wildlife to flourish better and for wildflowers to grow.
“We’ve brought forward six pilot schemes, two in each town and we’ve been working on the way in which those map out, and how we’re going to manage those sites over the next few years. There are some financial consequences – the type of equipment used for close cutting football pitches and footpaths is very different to the machinery you use if you want to leave long cuts.
“An investment does have to be made and we consider that worthwhile to give us the change in looks in these areas and to encourage people to engage in these areas.”
Questions have been raised over the cost of the scheme. Due to current equipment not being able to collect grass trimmings, a new ride-on mower with a collecting unit will need to be purchased.
It is hoped that this might be able to be purchased through existing budgets as part of plans to replace existing mowers. If not, however a new mower with a collection unit would cost in the region of £60,000 Coun Callum Beswick asked whether any thought had been given to hiring the new mower, considering it might only be used a couple of times a year.
He said: “I mean – £60,000 is quite a lot of money, especially with all the uncertainty around local government reorganisation. I wonder if it’s wise to be shelling out £60,000 or could we look at some alternative?
“Could we hire a machine because potentially we’ll only have two seasons or three seasons when we might be able to do it and won’t be aware what will happen after that. So would it be a better application of taxpayers’ money to perhaps look into the cost of hiring one for those two years.”
A council officer confirmed that consideration to hiring a machine has not been considered and said that were a number of reasons why purchasing a mower would be more beneficial.
These include the fact that the mower could be used throughout the year and a possible agreement with High Peak Borough Council, which is trialling a similar scheme
