The north-east public has been asked to be patient as efforts are made to cut the the “unsightly” overgrown grass visible across the region – and elsewhere across Scotland.
When the country was first put into lockdown, Aberdeen City Council and others were forced to suspend all grass cutting until further notice.
The service re-commenced in council-maintained areas in the Granite City two weeks ago, with council staff concentrating on green space that is well used by the public.
The priority is parks, road verges, cemeteries and sheltered housing and, due to the backlog, the authority has said not all grass areas will be cut this year.
Kingswells, Sheddocksley and Summerhill councillor Steve Delaney has asked the public for “patience” while council staff catch up with a long list of duties.
He said: “I share everyone’s frustration about the unsightly and overgrown grass, but I can assure you the grounds maintenance teams are doing their best to get this tidied-up as quickly as possible.
“However, it’s an issue affecting the whole city, so the task is huge
“In addition, their machines are not designed to cut such long grass and that too is adding to the timescale and, in some cases the end result isn’t as well cut as they would like.
“All I can ask is for everyone to have a little more patience and hopefully everything will start looking a bit tidier over the coming weeks”.
Councillor John Wheeler, operational delivery convener at Aberdeen City Council, added: “The Covid-19 lockdown and social distancing has impacted on the council’s ability to undertake grass cutting over the last few months.
“Council staff resumed grass cutting two weeks ago and will obviously endeavour to complete as many sites as quickly as possible, despite the challenging circumstances.
“We would like to thank residents for their patience and support as we progress with the work.”
In Aberdeenshire, cemeteries have been prioritised for grass cutting, and in the first two weeks of June, meandering 2 metre- wide paths were cut in the region’s more popular parks and open spaces to encourage walking.
Given the length of the grass, it will require “several initial cuts” to bring some areas back to an acceptable condition.