A COUNTY councillor has taken a swipe at the local authority for allowing grass verges to become overgrown in Tynedale.

Coun. Colin Horncastle, of Allendale, claims motorists are prepared to adopt a DIY approach to cutting verges in order to improve visibility at road junctions.

Speaking at a recent meeting of Allendale Parish Council, Coun. Horncastle said: “The grass verge cutting here is worse this year than it has ever been, and it’s the same across the county.

“I don’t know what has gone wrong this time.

“People are saying they will strim the junctions themselves. It’s just not good enough.”

In recent years, criticism has been aimed at contractors hired by the county council to carry out grass cutting duties.

However, the local authority says that all verge maintenance is now carried out by county council staff and equipment.

A spokesman admitted that the in-house approach reduces costs, and that the verge cutting programme is spread across the growing season, rather than at one particular time.

The spokesman added: “We have prioritised cutting strategic junctions and the sight lines on strategic routes, and these are all complete.

“Specific concerns raised by councillors and members of the public are inspected and where there is an immediate safety issue they are cut as soon as possible.

“There is already a commitment to undertake an end of summer grounds maintenance review which will look at how the council has performed the wide range of grounds maintenance activities.

“This review will be considered by council committees in the autumn.”