- 1. Service Description
East Hampshire District Council cuts all highway grass verges in the 30mph
and 40mph speed limit areas.
The council also cuts the grass on its own open space areas.
The grass is currently cut 9 times a year during the growing season (between
the months of March and October).
Some trees, shrub beds and hedges are also maintained by East Hampshire
District Council. These are generally found in District Council open spaces,
car parks, play areas and bordering some footpaths.
Hedges are cut annually in the autumn and shrub beds are constantly tended
to during the year. Trees are maintained, subject to a 5 year planned
maintenance programme.
If you have a query over the ownership of any of these areas or features,
please contact Customer Services on 01730 234295 with the exact location of the
area you are querying.
Other owners of grassed open spaces could be any of the following:
Drum Housing Association 01730 403040
Hampshire County Council (Highways) 01730 260411
Any of the Parish & Town Councils in East Hampshire (see the "Phone
Book" listing on the EHDC Website Homepage for contact details).
- 1. Service Standard - Grass Cutting
Grass Cutting
All highway grass verges within 30 and 40 mph speed limits and District Council
owned grassed open spaces are cut nine times each year, between March and
October.
In the Bramshott and Liphook Parish area, grass cutting of highway verges is
undertaken by the parish council, and is enhanced to a standard of eleven cuts
each year.
After cutting, the grass on verges should be of a height of no more than
40mm.
After cutting, the grass on EHDC open spaces should be of a height of no
more than 20mm.
- 1. Service Standard - Service Levels
Service Levels
Grass cutting on highway and open spaces is done on a "cut and leave" basis
(i.e. we do not collect the grass cuttings).
All contract areas are cut and left tidy 9 times per year at roughly monthly
intervals, between March and October. The exception to this is the main growing
season, between May and July, when four cuts are carried out at 3 weekly
intervals.
EHDC shrub beds are pruned, dug over, hand weeded and hoed at 3
occaisions during the year. All cuttings and debris is removed from site after
work. At each visit all litter is also removed from the beds and surrounding
area.
EHDC hedges are cut once per year in November/December. All cuttings are
removed from site after work.
Leaving the grass cuttings in situ provides the growing grass with a "mulch"
of grass cuttings, which will rot down and provide nutrients which encourage
good growth.
EHDC has recently stopped spraying herbicide chemicals on the grass around
all street obstructions (such as lamposts, road signs and trees). The spraying
was originally done to prevent damage from strimming the grass too close to the
obstacles, in particular young trees. By doing this, EHDC will eliminate the
use of almost 200 litres of liquid herbicide. In its place, the contractor is
putting tree guards around all young trees, and will be carrying out careful
strimming of other obstacles.
Also in 2006, the use of solid chemical herbicide on the shrub beds of Four
Marks will be stopped. As part of this trial, the Streetcare contractor will
be putting down ProGrow soil conditioner on the Four Marks shrub beds as a
weed-preventing mulch. If the trial proves successful, this will be rolled-out
to all EHDC shrub beds in 2007. This could lead to an overall reduction in the
use of solid chemicals of over 250kg (i.e. a quarter of a tonne).
- 1. Service Standard - Timescales
Timescales
Where unsatisfactory standards of work are found, the contractor can be
instructed to return and bring the area up to an acceptable standard within 48
hours.
This applies to highway/open space grass, shrub beds and hedges.
District grass cutting is carried out according to an agreed calendar. Each
cut must be finished by the end date and not over-run. If the contractor does
over-run on any cut, they will receive a financial penalty and be ordered to
re-coup the over-run time in the period of the next cut.
- How often are the grass verges cut in my area?
Grass highway verges in 30mph/40mph speed limit areas are cut by East
Hampshire District Council.
They are cut on 9 occassions between March and October. During the period
May to July, the verges are cut 4 times, with each cut taking 3 weeks.
Hampshire County Council are responsible for cutting the rural verges twice
a year in May and August. These are generally country lanes and the faster
connecting roads such as the A272, B3004, B3006 etc...
- When are the weeds in the gutters going to be treated?
Highway weeds are dealt with by Hampshire County Council. They can be
contacted directly on 01730 266411.
A contact weedkiller is scheduled to be applied twice a year in the growing
season (May-Sept).
Due to the tightening of environmental law regulating the pollution of
groundwater, local authorities are no longer allowed to spray a residual
herbicide onto roads and pavements.
Residual herbicides have a long life, and can remain active in the ground
for many months.
Currently HCC are only allowed to spray a weak contact herbicide directly
onto the leaves of growing weeds. This often restricts the growth of the weed,
but does not kill it entirely. If the spraying is done at the wrong times of
year, or during poor weather conditions (raining and windy), the herbicide can
have no effect at all.
- Who is responsible for a damaged/dead roadside tree?
If the tree is growing on the highway verge, it is the responsibility of
Hampshire County Council to maintain or remove it.
They can be contacted on 01730 266411.
- Why are the grass cuttings not picked up after the grass has been cut?
A "cut and collect" service would cost considerably more financially than
our current system. We therefore leave the cuttings and allow them to mulch
down and provide nutrients for the remaining grass.
A grass-blowing machine is used to remove the cuttings off the footpaths and
roads for the safety of the general public.
- Why was the grass not cut on our housing estate?
It may be that the Streetcare contractor has missed your road in error. We
will need to investigate this, so please contact the council on 01730 234295,
giving details of your address and the grassed areas that are uncut.
Certain grass areas in and around ex-council housing areas were transferred
to Drum Housing Association as part of the Housing Stock Transfer in 1995.
These areas are cut by Drum Housing Association who can be contacted on 01730
403040.
If you live in a relatively new private estate, the grassed areas may not
yet have been adopted and are still the responsibility of the developers. If
you wish to enquire into the current progress of an adoption please contact
Alisdair Tweddle on 01730 234297 (direct dial).