War on Weeds

With the wet weather we have been having this summer, the weeds around Grove are trying to take over.  This has been a battle that I have tried to fight in the past, but have always been told that there was not sufficient funding from the County Council to undertake weedkilling on a regular basis except for noxious weeds like ragwort.  Previously, a sum of money was paid to the parish council to undertake the work, but this was stopped several years ago.

However, with the advent of the Area Stewardship funding from the County Council, which has now been renamed the County Councillors' Highways and Transport Fund, I have been given an allocation of money to spend in the community.  So far, I have allocated money for the new zebra crossing which is being installed on the Denchworth Road, some funding to prevent parking on verges and money for the parish council to provide weedkilling for the whole of Grove, three times a year. 

The first weed spraying occurred at the end of April, and the second spray is now happening around the village.  I saw the sprayers in Churchward Close last week and they were on track to do the rest of Grove.  There will be a final onslaught in the autumn.  I am hoping that if this continues on a yearly basis, we can get on top of the situation in the long run.  For too many years this has been neglected, which has caused some of the weeds to reach great heights and to break up pavements. The photos above show how things are now steadily improving.

We are undertaking a similar initiative in Wantage with Cllr. Hannaby, so hopefully things will be improving there too.