SCHOOLS across Teesdale have been given three months’ notice that Durham County Council will cease to maintain their grounds.
The move comes at a time when there is a dire shortage of grass-cutting contractors in the area.
Late last month schools were sent an email from the county’s clean and green team confirming that the service level agreements they have will be terminated.
In the email county officers said a number of schools have moved away from the county council service and centralised their ground maintenance after joining academy trusts. They added that the geographical spread of the remaining schools meant the service was unsustainable.
The letter reads: “We are keen to not leave schools unsupported, and if you feel you will not be able to find a suitable replacement service within the three-month period, please contact our team and we will be happy to help in any way we can.
“Equally, if you are able to find a contractor and would like to terminate our agreement sooner than three months, please also contact the team so that we can facilitate this.”
The cancellation comes at a time when there is a scarcity of contractors in Teesdale.
Parish councils across the dale have struggled in recent months to find contractors to cut their village greens. The shortage of contractors being prepared to take on more work is caused jointly by the increased cost of fuel and the difficulty in getting staff to do the work.
Parish councils that have been successful in finding contractors have found the cost of grass cutting has gone up dramatically.
A headteacher from a dale school said not only had the council announced it was cancelling the maintenance contract, but it would also not be collecting green waste in the future
Jeff Talbot, Durham County Council’s clean and green manager, said: “Like many other local authorities, we are finding it increasingly difficult to ensure the economic viability of providing a grounds’ maintenance service for schools. Where schools have had an agreement in place to pay us for grounds maintenance, our procurement team will be supporting them to find new contractors and we continue to offer schools our support with tree surveys and playground equipment inspections.
“We do not collect grass cuttings from playing fields or pitches as it makes more economic and environmental sense to leave them to breakdown into the soil and act as a natural fertiliser. If a school does have a garden or other space that generates green waste, we would advocate composting on site.”
