Join our Grounds Maintenance Group
Have your say about how we look after your shared spaces, grounds and green areas.
Our responsibilities
It’s our responsibility to make sure that the Trust owned grounds maintenance areas are kept as they should and ensure the grass, hedges, shrubs and pathways are kept neat and tidy.
We’re responsible for cutting Trust owned communal grass during the April – October season, carrying out shrub and hedge cuts to Trust owned areas outside of the bird nesting season, and managing non-native invasive weeds in communal areas.
We believe that attractive neighbourhoods add to the sense of pride you have in your community and that the environment contributes to your quality of life.
To help us achieve this, our grounds maintenance service maintains our green spaces by:
Cutting grass (see below)
Pruning shrubs, bushes and maintaining borders twice a year
Cutting hedges twice a year
Maintaining trees (all our trees in communal areas have been surveyed and tagged with an ID tag, which we use to monitor trees and carry out maintenance)
Lawn edgings twice a year
Weed spraying (spot spraying)
Unfortunately bad weather sometimes affects the work that our grounds maintenance contractor can do. If it’s raining they will still cut the grass.
But in extreme weather the machines might damage the grass or lift mud to the surface, which might mean we’re not able to finish the job or the job won’t look as great as it would in dry conditions.
If you aren’t happy with the condition the grass is left in please contact the Trust.
The standard of our contractor's work is monitored by our Estate Services Team when they carry out their inspections. Customer feedback is also welcomed and provides a great deal of information regarding the Performance of our Grounds Maintenance Contractor.
Cut and drop
The Trust is moving to a ‘cut and drop’ service, which means we're cutting the grass and dropping it on the ground, leaving it behind. We'll still blow it away from your property and make sure pathways are clear, but cut grass will stay on your local green spaces rather than being taken away.
All residents were sent a letter in January advising of the change in service.
This new 'cut and drop' approach is also known as 'grasscycling', which is more environmentally friendly and reduces vehicle trips to dispose of the waste and increases working time spent on site, rather than travelling.
Some other benefits are:
- Cut and drop encourages healthier grass since the nutrients are released back into the soil
- It creates a natural fertiliser
- Cut and drop cuts down on landfill / disposal
- This method saves energy since we're not taking the cuttings the landfill/composting sites, which in turn reduces our carbon footprint
- It's also more expensive to collect the cuttings - it needs more equipment, more labour, more costs to dispose of the cuttings, and more time. This would result in increased charges for residents, which we wanted to avoid.
Your Council's responsibilities
Cheshire East maintain the grounds in parks, play areas and open spaces. They also have responsibility for roads and pavements.
Cheshire West and Chester maintains the grass and grounds in all public areas, such as verges, parks and play areas.
High Peak Council is responsible for looking after parks and open spaces. They also care for the grass on roadside verges on behalf of Derbyshire County Council.