Cutbacks to hedge maintenance ‘unsightly and unsafe’

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Complaints about unsightly and unsafe hedges are a direct consequence of SNP council cuts, say South Lanarkshire Labour.

The SNP Council reduced maintenance regime for South Lanarkshire hedges from two per year to just one as part of this year’s Council Budget. The service reduction allowed the Council to reduce the seasonal grounds workforce by eight workers and £90,000 was stripped out of the Council’s Budget.

This year’s Council Budget followed years of deliberate under-funding of Scotland’s councils by the Scottish Government, which had already forced South Lanarkshire to shed almost 100 jobs from its ground workforce.

Councillor Margaret Walker, Labour Opposition Spokesperson for Community and Enterprise, said: “Labour councillors opposed the decision to scale back hedge maintenance because people should not have to live with unsightly and unsafe surroundings. This £90,000 cut to hedge maintenance represents yet another reduction in the level of service to the community.

“These cuts come after a decade of austerity in which South Lanarkshire Council has already been forced to shed 100 grounds worker jobs.

“A Labour Council would fight back against austerity by demanding fair funding from the SNP Government and by doing more locally to protect core services. Not only did we oppose this service reduction when it was voted on at Budget time, we presented a costed alternative to SNP spending plans that would have delivered a £2 million boost to frontline services like grounds maintenance.”

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