There has been a great deal of comment about the grass cutting carried out by the Council this season. There has been an outcry from residents in all parts of the Borough where as part of Budget cuts for 2015/16 areas which normally get cut every two weeks have been left. In the Willenhall area the most prominent example of this has been at “Five Fields” off Pool Hayes Lane in Short Heath.

There are those who welcome the return to natural meadows which encourage wild flowers and wild life of all sorts. There are others who hate it and there are those who have been deprived of an open space where they can kick a ball about without driving residents nuts.

The issue is the way that it’s been done, the arbitrary way in which the decision was made. It has been imposed from the centre as part of a package of measures to reduce Council spend and was supported by Labour and the Tories on Walsall Council.

It had nothing to do with creating a wild life haven. It had nothing to do with local need. Local people were not consulted. Had they been given options things might have been different The Lib Dem Budget Proposals, had they been accepted, would have set a fixed amount of money for Grounds Maintenance in each Area Partnership. It would be for local residents through proper consultation how that money would be spent. Unfortunately our Budget proposals were voted down by Labour, Tories and UKIP. As Liberal Democrats we believe passionately that issues such as this should be decided through consultation with local residents at the Area Partnership level and we will continue to campaign for Local Participatory Budgets giving local people a bigger say in how their hard earned Council Tax £s are spent.

It has to be said that the way in which people vote in local elections has a direct effect on what happens in the local area. In both Short Heath and Willenhall North this year local residents, some influenced by national issues, voted in Tory Councillors. The very people who supported this years Council spending cuts programme.