The Council wishes to acknowledge the recent comments regarding the hedge and shrub bed maintenance programme across the Parish so far this season, in particular, the areas not attended to yet such as Haydon End, Taw Hill and Oakhurst.
There are several operational reasons why our Team is behind on the schedule. We want to apologise for the inconvenience this has caused our residents and give reassurance that we are working hard to resolve them.
In October last year, the hedge and shrub cutting maintenance came in house after our contractors pulled out within the first six weeks of the contractual period and cutting season. The works we undertook at the end of last year allowed us to trial new methods of working and adapt to the new scheduling, induct new team members and new equipment without the pressures of the growing season. However, since then the growing season has been unpredictable and the brambles have grown rapidly. This has resulted in a significant increase in public enquiries and as a result, these were being responded to causing a significant delay to the to the planned schedule. The knock on effect is we have been unable to make substantial progress in specific areas, such as in Oakhurst and Taw Hill.
We have prioritised areas such as school crossings, major footpaths, road junctions and areas where there could be a health & safety risk to the public. We are now following the schedule and the planned routes. We continue to have a daily work sheet for any areas at the end of the planned schedule that need an interim tidy up prior to the scheduled cut and these areas can be reported to tidyup@haydonwick.gov.uk.
The peak season always brings new challenges. We are confident that the scheduling will get the shrub beds back under control within the next few weeks and that a significant improvement which will be apparent in due course.
We have already increased transparency by publishing our grass cutting schedule, and we are looking at following the same idea for hedge and shrub cutting, along with improving the way residents are able to report issues in open spaces, and our monitoring process.
Thank you for your patience.
