North Yorkshire Council has been criticised for the state of roadside gutters and grass verges in Ripon.
The city’s Mayor has called upon Richard Flinton, Chief Executive of the council, to lead a full management review to ensure that firstly the grass that has not been cut across the city for over two months is cut and the road side gutters which have not been cleaned for some considerable time are cleared as a matter of urgency.
Cllr Andrew Williams, North Yorkshire Councillor for the Ripon Minster and Moorside Division, has written formally to convey his strong feelings that the current situation is shambolic and in need of action.
He says he has been dealing with numerous complaints from residents.
Cllr Williams said: “These are basic services that council taxpayers rightly expect to be delivered without issue, yet not for the first time the lack of grass cutting is simply unacceptable, children’s play areas, communal grass areas and verges in residential streets should be properly maintained and they simply haven’t been. Many of these areas were last cut in April.”
The councillor continued: “I welcome the cutting has taken place in recent days but there is much work to be done to catch up.
“It shouldn’t need to be the case that a councillor has to demand these basic services are provided, North Yorkshire Council pay significant sums to the senior management team and they need to review what has gone wrong, identify solutions to ensure that the situation doesn’t arise in the future.”
Cllr Williams has called for the Chief Executive to lead this process and to provide a full report later this year.
YorkMix has asked for a comment from the council and will add this when we hear back.
