A controversial plan to slash verge mowing costs has been quietly axed by the City of Canning after it was savaged by local residents.
The city currently undertakes maintenance of verges on major roads and residential verges to manage excessive grass growth, maintain sightlines for motorists and keep a tidy streetscape environment.
The service is available to all Canning residents who apply and meet the existing eligibility criteria with up to three services provided per year, with approximately 6400 verges mowed by the city adjacent to residential properties where the resident cannot or does not maintain the area themselves, and the verge area meets the eligibility criteria.
Earlier this year, however, the city announced proposed changes to the policy.
The proposed changes included that it would no longer mow verges unless the adjacent landowner is a resident and could demonstrate an incapacity to undertake mowing due to age, infirmity or another disability.
Residents with an incapacity to undertake mowing due to age, infirmity or other disability would not be eligible unless they are the landowner.
The city also said it would only provide one service per year, and eligible landowners required to request the service.
The public consultation over the issue was damning,
Over 50 per cent of respondents said they don’t mow the verge, which is owned by the city, because the city should do it.
The comments in the public consultation, however, are more telling, with an overwhelming amount of the 429 anonymous comments hitting out at the city for attempting to palm off maintenance of land they own onto city residents.
Since the consultation concluded in April there has been little mention of the policy, however in the officer’s report in relation to a review of verge treatments and verge registration policies at Tuesday night’s Agenda Forum, it was revealed the proposed changes to the policy had been very quietly axed.
“The city also commenced review of the above policy and undertook a community survey and consultation to establish opinions on possible changes,” the report read.
“However, the city has determined not to proceed with amendments to ET524 at this stage.”
Mayor Patrick Hall said the community feedback demonstrated that verge mowing was a “valued service”.
“The city determined that minor operational adjustments could be made to achieve the desired outcomes without the need to amend the policy,” he said.
He also confirmed the waterwise verge pilot program – which was to be funded by the savings acquired through the changes to the verge policy – would go ahead using funds from the current budget.
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