Council owned grassland to the west of the borough was benefitting from a much needed short back and sides as Walsall Council’s mowing teams took advantage of some much needed summer sun and descended on Willenhall in a bid to cut back the backlog of mowing in the area.

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Willenhall Liberal Democrats led by Cllr Ian Shires had demanded to know why the west of the borough was looking decidedly neglected as far as the grassed areas were concerned. The Council has four mowing teams covering the borough and for some reason not yet evident the team covering the west, which includes Willenhall, had been struggling to cope.

The previous Tory administration having wrested power back of Labour in May 2015, had reinstated the mowing of 26 sites across the borough axed by the Labour administration during the 2014/15 Budget Consultation. “The Tories may have done the popular thing by reinstating the grass cutting on the 26 sites axed by Labour” said Cllr Shires “but they expected the extra work to be it to be carried out by a much reduced workforce.”

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Walsall’s new Labour/Lib Dem Coalition is exploring ways of engaging with residents across the borough in deciding how best to spend the money allocated to grass cutting. “The largest proportion of the money the council spends comes from Central Government. Council tax accounts for only 15% of council spending” said Cllr Shires. “What monies the Council did get from Westminster was subjected to a 29% cut from the previous year” added Ian.

“The Tories were less than honest with the people of Walsall when they applied the cut agreed by Labour in February of last year then expected the much depleted Clean and Green teams to continuing cutting grass as if nothing had happened. It would appear that we are now paying the price for their actions” said Ian.