Yet another example of shifting tasks to smaller councils without the resources (equipment and personnel) to deal with them.
The town and parish councils then have to raise more money from their precepts and the county (and also) district councils can say they are cost-cutting and/or keeping down their share of council tax.
Sure they are – but WE still pay via the increased precepts.
Not cricket?
East Devon Watch 
So when a fatal accident happens due to obscured vision caused by long grass verges who do we sue??
EDDC will surely never take on responsibility for cutting verges as, lets face it, they can’t manage anything well.
Currently I cut the verges outside our driveway which was always done by DCC maybe I should bill them for my time and the fuel used.
Yet another example of a Council shirking its resonsibilities in the name of austarity!!
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Oh how I wish it were that simple. Actually for once, Paul Diviani came clean about the reasons behind this in one of the recent EDDC Council or Cabinet meetings where he explained that County and District Councils are heavily influenced against increasing council tax by incentives (or as we might call them, “bribes”) by central government who give bonuses to councils who keep their council tax precepts down and penalties to those who increase them. So there is a strong incentive for both county and district councils to pass these responsibilities down to town / parish councils who are not incentivised in these ways.
And IMO that might actually make more sense overall – as Parish councils have better local knowledge and (in theory at least) greater accountability to local people for local policies and expenditure, and so are (in theory) better placed to decide where to cut grass. These will, of course, add to the workload of Paris Councils, which do not currently have staff to undertake or even manage this – but that might even result in more professionally run Parish Councils, particularly where the Parish Clerk is not currently formally qualified and is perhaps part time or a volunteer.
But I do take Peter’s point about accidents caused by long grass obscuring road visibility – which should be the responsibility of which ever council maintains the roads and is therefore responsible for safety on those roads. Of course, getting the council to admit responsibility and pay compensation in the event of an accident is pretty difficult, so they will get away with it in most cases.
P.S. I also mow the verges both outside our property and for a reasonable distance where they are in front of fields adjacent to our property. However, I will not be billing either the county or district council – I see it as part of my contribution to the local community.
P.P.S. Its not just grass verges however – the pavements in our hamlet now have a substantial growth of weeds which will eventually damage the kerbs and tarmac and require expensive repairs. So a failure to spray these with weed killer will be a false economy in the long run. I suppose I could start to spray these myself, but use of poisonous chemicals on public spaces seems to me to open a lot of legal risks which I probably don’t want to take on.
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Article – Sunday Times last Sunday; regarding Devon CC is now getting residents to cut grass, fill potholes, clear litter, clear drains , clean road signs etc., even given access to temporary traffic lights if required. soon we will be driving dustcarts, doing the ‘refuse rounds” as well. I can foresee troubles ahead. Where does the line stop when it comes to paying our council taxes.
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Councilor Paul Diviani and council need the whole community to except the many local jobs which were part of the services provided from our council tax.
Mr Diviani also says his aims are to conserve and enhance our environment for all people who live and work here.
He also says that local housing and economic well-being for local people is his top priority.
We have a Town Centre in which much of the street paving is like walking on top of broken piano keys, and most of the infrastructure badly needs updating.
But his EDDC are still intending to develop the Queens Drive to the tune of £18 million with the intention of making it a future tourist attraction.
It is with this pretense he will reinvigorate the whole area, when in truth it is the most valuable asset we have in Exmouth, and nothing to do with his idea of looking after the disadvantaged and ensuring the opportunities for local housing and well paid jobs for local residents.
Their is little Councilor Diviani or EDDC can do for Exmouth, unless he is able to sell those valuable parts of our sea front, it will then disappear for ever. What we will receive for selling our family silver, is very vague, we must not allow it to happen.
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