Grass cut on Wigan green space after complaints

A green space is looking spick and span once again thanks to a helping hand from a Wigan business.

Coun Anthony Sykes said he had complaints from residents about how long the grass was on Ashton Heath which is a popular spot for dog walkers.

But after Coun Sykes approached Unibro, an Ashton-based grass cutting business, they agreed to do the work at a significantly reduced price.

The heath is common land, so is not Wigan Council responsibility, but the authority usually cut the grass every year to maintain its unique habitat.

However Coun Sykes said this that staff have been redeployed due to the coronavirus and weren’t able to cut the grass on the heath.

He thanked Unibro for stepping in to do the work and once again give residents in Ashton a green space to enjoy.

He said: “This is an example of a real community effort from a local business.

“Ashton Heath is common land so the council don’t have to cut it but they do to help maintain it.

“It would grow into complete woodland eventually if it was left.

“But the staff weren’t able to do this year because of the pandemic and being redeployed elsewhere, so it had become long and was around knee length in height.”

After being contacted about the long grass by Friends of Ashton Heath - a small group of residents from around the Heath area who help maintain the heath by doing things including litter picks - Coun Sykes then approached Unibro who agreed to cut it over the weekend.

He said: “The Friends of Ashton Heath had contacted me to say it was still not done and so that’s when I asked Unibro and they were happy to cut the grass at a greatly reduced cost.

“It’s a nice community effort from a local business as the grass was getting really deep and they’ve used big ride-on mowers to do it, so I’m really thankful to them.”

He added: “It’s really good of them to help out so the people of Ashton can once again enjoy the heath.”