Rogiet parks ‘disgusting’, says gran (From Free Press Series)

Rogiet parks ‘disgusting’, says gran

2:30pm Wednesday 5th September 2012 in News

A ROGIET grandmother has said that two local parks near her are ‘disgusting’ and not fit for children to play in.

Tina Westley says she is not able to let her two grandchildren play in the local parks in Buzzard Close or Barn Owl Road in Rogiet as the council either fails to cut the grass and leaves cuttings behind.

She said: “It looks absolutely disgusting. The mounds of cut grass would come up to a child ankles and they would be covered.

“I don’t see why the council can’t just pick it up.”

She explained that the council had not cut the grass for three weeks, since August 8, and when they did come to cut it on August 30, they left the cuttings behind. She added: “It’s not appealing for families to take children there, there’s not even any pretty flowers to make it a nice place to walk around.”

Monmouthshire council’s operations manager Nigel Leaworthy said: “These areas were due to be cut this week but atrocious weather combined with the bank holiday means we are a day or two behind schedule. However, given the concerns of residents, I have asked our team to cut the grass at Rogiet as a matter of urgency. The collection of cuttings is an additional exercise which requires a different machine. We maintain over 2,000,000 sq metres, 200 hectares, of open space and parkland and collecting all cut grass would not be feasible or economically viable.”