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‘Can we have some of those money trees?’ – Row erupts over funding for Wrexham grass cutting

Wrexham Guildhall (Pic: Google Maps)

WREXHAM Council Leader Mark Pritchard has been asked if ‘we have some of those money trees’ after challenging the Housing and Environment Scrutiny Committee increase funding for grass cutting.

Cllr Pritchard – who is also Lead Member for Finance and Performance – branded grass cutting the ‘poor relation’ to road resurfacing.

His comments sparked a heated debate at Wednesday’s Homes and Environment Scrutiny Committee as chairman Cllr Paul Pemberton responded, asking: ‘Can we have some of those money trees we can get it off?”

Earlier this year there were crisis talks between councillors and officers as funding cuts to Streetscene and the grounds maintenance budget meant grass verges grew unchecked at the start of the season. This caused a safety risk at road junctions and roundabouts and prompted a flurry of complaints from the public.

A one-off emergency payment of around £50,000 was approved to help the council’s grounds maintenance team get grass cutting and weeding back on track through the summer.

But Cllr Pritchard warned the committee that unless it increased funding for grass cutting, next spring would bring more of the same problems.

“This grass cutting season we didn’t start off well,” said Cllr Pritchard. “It was unacceptable and we lost control of it.

“We can’t start next year at the same pace. Vehicles, plant machinery should be serviced ready to go so whenever the spring breaks through we start grass cutting and then we’re not catching up, we’re ahead.

“I think grass cutting is a poor relation to resurfacing. For any service you have to fund it correctly and it’s as clear as day that there isn’t enough money in the system.

“Last year we had to have an emergency meeting to put the fifty-odd thousand pounds in so that tells me there isn’t enough money in the system.

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“Streetscene has become a corporate priority now and we as elected members will not accept the standards we’ve had in the past – we can’t. But to achieve what we and the officers want, we have to fund it appropriately.

“There isn’t enough money in there, there just isn’t. You can’t keep on doing it for that amount of money, it’s just unsustainable.”

With no additional funding currently in the pipeline for the department however, Cllr Pemberton challenged Cllr Pritchard on how they could make a more significant investment in the grass cutting and weeding programme.

“You’ve just said there’s no more funding,” he said. “Yet you’re telling us to put more funding in.

“Can we have some of those money trees we can get it off because I’ve  not seen any of them for a long, long time!”

Cllr Steve Joe Jones also wanted to know where the extra money would come from.

“Where’s the money going to come from,” he asked. “We can’t keep putting council tax up and up and up and up just to fill the hole. We haven’t got the money to put extra funding in.”

Cllr Paul Blackwell made his position clear, asking Cllr Pritchard: “”Can you tell us where the money’s coming from?”

“Departmental budgets,” said Cllr Pritchard. “If the financial side doesn’t improve in this department you’ll have the same service as you had last year because costs have gone up.”

Following the debate the Homes and Environment Scrutiny Committee recommended that a task and finish group is set up to look at where departmental funding and cost recovery measures might be found to ease the upcoming pressures on grass cutting and weed control. It also recommended requesting increased funding for next year.

“In my opinion if we take from the departmental budget then we’re going to get roads and potholes and everything else suffering. The whole pot’s not big enough but the department haven’t got the resources or the finance to move forward with that.”

CAPTION: Wrexham Council’s grass cutting services were at the centre of a fierce debate over funding as councillors clashed over how to pay for the service next year.

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