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Jun
Grass cutting underway in Ripon after mayor blasts ‘disgraceful’ state of city
Grass is finally being cut in Ripon this week after mayor Andrew Williams blasted North Yorkshire Council’s “disgraceful” approach to looking after the city.
Councillor Williams said the council’s level of service for maintaining parks and gardens and road gulleys was “simply not good enough”.
He said many gutters in Ripon were a “mess”.
Writing on social media on Tuesday (June 23), he said:
These are in my view basic services which we rightly expect to be done properly given the amount of council tax that we pay.
I have over the last fortnight complained directly to the chief executive of North Yorkshire Council and some areas were cut last week, some to a better standard than others, Paddies Park is a disgrace.
I spoke to the leader of North Yorkshire Council today as a full management review needs to be undertaken to ensure this situation never arises again. The deputy leader is coming to Ripon tomorrow and I will be showing him what residents have rightly been complaining about.
Speaking today, Cllr Williams, who represents Ripon Minster and Moorside on North Yorkshire Council as well as being a Ripon city councillor, told the Stray Ferret the problem was due to staff shortages and a recent amalgamation of departments which had left some employees wrongly believing other people were responsible for the work.
He added the situation was improving daily, and that plans had been put in place to “ensure things aren’t as bad next year”.
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