Council chiefs have pledged to prioritise schools and road junctions for verge cutting amid serious public safety concerns.
Several councillors condemned the current maintenance regime during a passionate debate yesterday while reviewing grass cutting and related duties.
The council will carry out an options appraisal to allow members to decide how future grass cutting will be carried out region-wide.
Citing overgrowth near Dingwall Primary School, local councillor Margaret Paterson said: “Verges are making things dangerous. The schools restarted on Tuesday and many mums have phoned me, who couldn’t walk on the pavement up to the school.
“Mums with prams are having to go onto the road. We have to think about the safety of our people.”
Gillian Coghill highlighted a similar issue in her Caithness ward, describing the situation there as “horrendous.”
She cited staff cuts for verges of even some local A-roads not being tended to.
“The weeds are 5ft high. I can’t see out of my car windows on a main school bus route. The safety of children is at risk. We should have had all that done.”
Sutherland councillor Linda Munro had sympathy for the small maintenance team responsible for the 4,337sq miles in her ward.
“Like me, they’re getting hammered for what’s not done. They’re only doing their best. To get done what needs to be done, we have to change how we’re doing it,” she said.
Community services director William Gilfillan said: “Nobody wants it to be better than it is than I and my staff do.
“If there are verges that need cut because school children are at risk then we need to be getting those done.”
He will report back in November after a further review of the service.
The council privatised 60% of its grass cutting to save £600,000 a year. Current contracts amount to an annual £1.3million.
The community services committee agreed that the contracted amenity grass cutting for Skye and Lochalsh will be brought in-house from next April and costed options be established to bring amenity grass cutting in-house across the rest of the region.
