COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, June 08, 2015

QUESTION NO.13

QUESTION: Councillor W. Lavelle

To ask the Chief Executive for a detailed report on grass-cutting this year to date and whether there are any plans too utilise external contractors to augment the Council's grass-cutting capacity as recommended in the motion approved by this Council last July?

REPLY:

Prior to 2008 the Council’s Parks Section hired approximately 8 tractor mowers to assist with cutting of grass on roadsides and open spaces. This represented approximately 20% of the tractor mower fleet which was in operation at that time. In addition to over 30 tractor mowers the Council also operates 30 to 40 ride on mowers of varying sizes. When the output of all grass cutting equipment is accounted for it is estimated that the hired tractor mowers increased the capacity of the grass cutting operation at the time by around 15%. When the hire arrangements came to an end the frequency of grass cutting reduced and time between grass cuts increased, due to the reduction in grass cutting resources that were available.

A service plan for the variety of services provided by the public realm section including grass cutting was drawn up at the start of this year. Grass cutting targets were set as weekly for playing pitches and fortnightly for major roads, parks and housing areas. If the service levels and frequencies as set down in the service plan are achieved it is expected that this will deliver an acceptable standard of maintenance of grass in the County this year.

Part of the issue with grass cutting in 2014 was the late start across the county with grass cutting generally not starting until mid April 2014. This year, grass cutting commenced across the county in mid March with a similar number of staff deployed to the operation as in 2014. Grass cutting has been hampered by unsettled weather conditions with Met Eireann reporting rainfall above average for March (111%) and April (108%). The unsettled conditions have persisted into May with 82mm of rain already recorded. The unsettled period of weather has coincided with the peak period for grass growth and as a result, grass cutting conditions have been difficult for much of the period to date.

Grass cutting of football pitches and major roads across the county is generally being achieved within target while there is some variablity across the county in relation to parks and housing areas which local managers are moving to address. As in 2014, the Council is pursuing alternative productivity measures with staff to enhance delivery of service. 

In relation to Customer Care,  178 Customer Care enquiries relating to grass cutting were received in the period 1st March - 27th May 2014 with 101 enquiries received to date for the same period in 2015. It is considered that the earlier start to grass cutting has contributed to the reduction in enquiries of approximately 44%