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08
Jul 2021
Senior Harrogate councillor defends fake grass saga
A senior Harrogate borough councillor has defended a council decision to put fake grass in the town centre.
The council's decision to install plastic grass in the raised flower beds on Cambridge Street in May met a fierce backlash from residents.
Council officials initially claimed the move received “lots of positive feedback”, but later removed the grass and apologised.
Last night, Cllr Andrew Paraskos, cabinet member for parks and environment, told a full council meeting that the grass was removed “straight away” and that the authority had to "try new ideas".
Read more:
- Extinction Rebellion replaces fake grass with flowers in Harrogate
- Huge backlash against ‘cheap and tacky’ fake grass
When asked to comment on whether the council explained its decision properly and if its value system “focussed only on money”, Cllr Paraskos defended the move.
He said:
When the Stray Ferret broke the story, the article received well over 150 responses - nearly all of which criticised the move.
Comments ranged from “it looks cheap and tacky” to “wasting council tax money yet again” to “who actually sat there thinking this was a cracking idea?”.
Some residents offered to remove the grass and plant flowers, but it was rejected by the council.
Extinction Rebellion later took direct action by replacing some of the grass with flowers in protest and handed it back to the council in person.
The borough council's statement apologising for the lack of communication on the saga can be read in full here.
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