Grass cutting is Church Eaton, Bradley and Gnosall has been dubbed a disgrace by a leading County Councillor this week.

Barry Stamp, Councillor for Gnosall Division said he was appalled that grass verges in the three villages, which are cut by contractors working for the County Council, were a disgrace because they had been left to grow too long before being cut for the first time this year.

"I have over the past few weeks been inundated with calls about the lack of grass cutting in the villages in my area. It appears that grass verges owned by the County Council had not been cut and, it some instances, had grown to nearly 30cms high. Having spoken to the County Highway's Department, I discovered that because of staff changes the work had been overlooked. However, now that cutting has got under way there are still problems as, in some areas, the quality of the work is quite abysmal. Not only have the long grass clippings been left to blow around, but some areas have been missed or only partially cut. At this time of the year, local villages are being judged as part of the Community Council's Best Kept Village Competition, and this poor service from the County Council is not helping their efforts. I believe that at the very least the County Council should be looking to tidy up these villages as soon as possible. Some money must have been saved by the delay in starting the cutting programme, and I would suggest this is used at least to pick up the long grass clippings and perhaps carry out an extra cut where this is required," said Cllr Stamp.

Cllr Stamp is now taking up this matter with the County Council's Highways Department who is responsible for carrying out the work.