A citywide roadside grass cut in Oxford has been completed after an eight-week programme.

Oxfordshire County Council as the highways authority is responsible for the management of the verges and it contracts Oxford City Council to mow these areas in line with policies set out for the county.

A single cut must be completed in the late summer and no collection of grass cuttings, with an additional earlier cut to manage overgrowth of footpaths and cycleways.

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The city council is responsible for other land such as parks and housing estates and sets the schedule for mowing these areas.

Undertaking the moving operation was the city council's wholly-owned direct services business ODS.

Work started for the first schedule cut on June 5, as part of the two-cut programme for roadside verges in Oxford.

This first cut was specifically to help avoid grass creating an obstruction and hazard to pavements, roads, cycleways, or buildings.

Due to unusually warm and wet weather conditions, grass across Oxford had grown much higher than usual.

This caused extra resourcing challenges for ODS, as it is more difficult to cut.

The weather conditions also meant the ground was waterlogged, therefore ODS did not carry out its scheduled mowing in March and early April in some parks and housing areas.

Now, following the completion of this work, the city council say parks and estates across will be regularly mowed as well as work to maintain hedges and shrub beds.

The second scheduled cut of roadside verges is expected to take place in September.

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ODS will still continue to maintain and mow grass verges near junctions and locations where visibility could be impeded.

Councillor Anna Railton, deputy leader and cabinet member for Zero Carbon Oxford said: "I want to thank Oxford residents for bearing with us while we carried out the first cut of roadside grass verges.

"This first scheduled cut was particularly challenging due to unseasonable growth following large amounts of rain in the spring, so thank you for your patience.

Anna Railton Anna Railton (Image: Oxford City Council) "Id also want to thank colleagues at ODS for their hard work over the past few weeks to carry out the scheduled program.”

The exception to the first mow schedule are eight roads that formed part of Oxford City Council’s original 'no mow' pilot: Marston Road, Sunderland Avenue, Headley Way, the Roundway, Bayswater Road, Abingdon Road, Abberbury roundabout, and Grenoble Road.

In these areas, a single cut once a year has been found to increase biodiversity.

Therefore, these streets will be cut once a year in September, with the grass cuttings collected to further help boost biodiversity and encourage a greater variety of wildflowers to establish.

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About the author

Rob is a digital reporter who covers a wide range of topics.

He joined the Oxford Mail in February 2023 having previously been at sister paper The Bucks Free Press for two years. 

Rob completed a Sports Journalism degree before earning his NCTJ Diploma at Darlington College and can be found on X at @RobertFolker.