Crawley's grass cutting delayed '˜because of climate change'

Colin Lloyd and the council's grass cutting team

A spokesman said it was expected to begin a week late on Monday (March 14) following recent wet weather.

Councillor Colin Lloyd, Cabinet member for Environmental Services and Sustainability, said: “Climate change is making weather patterns more and more unpredictable.

“Grass is noticeably longer than usual at this time of year due to the wet and mild winter but this has left the verges saturated.

“Our current machinery is too heavy so we are trialling the much lighter, push-along mowers to enable us to cut grass for longer.”

A council spokesman said it needed a spell of dry and mild weather before staff can start cutting.

Using its ride-on mowers while the ground was saturated with water would damage the verges.

Grass cutting has started in Manor Royal, where verge drainage is better and less prone to waterlogging, and in Bewbush, where the council trialled the use of push-along mowers on February 29.

A council spokesman said: “These mowers are lighter than traditional ride-on mowers and can be used when ground conditions are softer or wetter, which can increase the amount of time the council can cut the grass.

“Initial testing has also found that these mowers can give a better quality of cut and do not spray so much cut grass on to pavements.

“Depending on the success of the grass cutting trial it could be rolled out across the town from 2017.”

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