Wick weeds out of control

LOCAL people have expressed their feelings on social media about the copious amounts of grass and weeds growing on the streets of Wick.

Though many have condemned the "unsightly" and "neglected" look of many streets, others see it as a hangover from the lockdown that will eventually be resolved.

A Highland Council spokesperson said: “In many communities volunteers have taken it upon themselves to maintain these types of areas and this has helped the council to focus on other more high amenity areas.”

Commenting on a Facebook post on the subject Jean McLennan from Wick said: "What must visitors think? Seems to me we get less and less for our Council Tax." William Cormack said he felt "sorry for the council workers" but not the bosses as they have a heavy workload to undertake with less staff.

Richard Macleod said it "wouldn't really take much for the council to go round with weedkiller" and Pat Mackay feels that reduced foot traffic has played a role and "once folk get back to going about as normal the weeds etc will be worn down again".

Geraldine Durrand said: "Some pathways like the one from Willowbank down to Mowat Place is dreadful as are quite a few other places. It just makes our nice town look so sad and neglected."

Others talked about tackling the issue with "community volunteers" as has been done on Victoria Walk in Thurso. Bill Geddes Elder talked about community spirit being "something that’s few and far between nowadays" and people have "the attitude that it’s not their job instead of just mucking in and doing it and getting a bit of satisfaction".

Wick and East Caithness councillor Nicola Sinclair said the issue is an unfortunate "hangover" from the upheaval of Covid. "I understand how frustrating it is to see so many weeds around town, but these are not normal times," she said.

"Around half of the council’s community services staff were shielding during lockdown and the council rightly prioritised the safety of its staff. Now as life slowly returns to some kind of normality I know the team is working hard to get caught up, but that will not happen quickly."

Councillor Sinclair said that prior to lockdown another deep clean was arranged for Wick and she is waiting to hear from council officers if this can now take place.

"I am also working with local community groups on a number of projects including a general tidy-up supported by council and other partners. It’s not ideal and I am equally sad to see the town looking so unkempt, but hopefully we will see an improvement soon and I thank people for their patience."

She talked about a "day of action" and deep clean that can hopefully happen in September.

Raymond Bremner, who is also a local Highland councillor, said it is "really unfortunate" that the weeds have not been treated.

"I would suspect that this is due to a number of factors. Firstly, Covid will have prevented the early treatment because of lockdown and secondly because of the current ban on glyphosate weed control spray because of the considered risk to the environment, including bees and wildlife – something the community is very considerate about these days.

"However, it was banned without an alternative being available. There is a review of the amenity service in respect of this which was to have an alternative ready for this grass growing season. Unfortunately, Covid put paid to that review concluding in time. The review is now being looked at again and the alternatives that are being proposed."

A Highland Council spokesperson said: “Since the gradual removal of lockdown restrictions not all council grounds maintenance services have resumed due to the need to continue a safe service within Government guidelines on physical distancing both for our staff and the wider public. Also, due to budget pressures we have only recruited half of our usual seasonal staff.

“Some non-essential grounds maintenance services have not fully resumed. Strimming, maintenance of any rough-cut areas and grass cutting of roadside verges out with the council’s roads teams were among the non-essential grounds maintenance services that were not re-introduced to comply with lock down and because of staff absence.

"Strimming activities can take up more than 50 per cent of staff time, so efforts need to be concentrated on maintaining mowed grass areas."

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