Increased rains this winter has seen accelerated growth of shrubbery on our verges and in our parks, and the City’s normal winter mowing schedule has failed to keep up.

City of Greater Geraldton CEO Ken Diehm has this week said he is aware of the issue and is putting measures in place to address the problem.

“This is simply not acceptable and as CEO I take full responsibility for this failure,” he said.

“We’ve had a lot more rain this season and the simple problem has been that our normal winter mowing schedule just hasn’t kept up with the growth.

“To address this issue, I have instructed my staff to immediately engage additional local contractors to undertake the mowing of our verges and parks as a high priority.”

Residents will see a significant improvement over the next few weeks with contractors now employed for the increased mowing service and Mr Diehm said he will be putting measures in place to ensure the same issues don’t occur next winter.

“This has been a big learning curve for us and we know that things will need to change moving forward,” he said.

“We will be reviewing our winter mowing schedule each year to take into account any changes in weather patterns that accelerate growth on our verges to ensure this problem does not occur again.”

If you have an area of concern please don’t hesitate the City on 9956 6600 or at council@cgg.wa.gov.au