Emerging From The Wilderness At The Pathway After The Victoria Bridge Buckpool Are Community Councillors Kevin Mackay And Christine
A BUCKIE community group has revealed it is stepping up to the plate to tackle areas affected by Moray Council’s reduction in grass cutting services. Many public areas have been left partially or completely uncut as part of the local authority’s bid to shave £15 million from its budget, a move which has sparked outrage and health concerns across Moray. However, Buckie and District Community Council (BDCC), along with Buckie Roots (originally Friends of Buckie Square), a sub-group formed by the organisation a year ago, are set to take on the mantle of cutting as many priority areas of grass as possible.
BDCC chairman Kevin Mckay told the Advertiser: “I think it’s important to stress from the off that we’re not getting involved with the politics of the decision to reduce grass cutting – the basic truth is that the council doesn’t have the money and if you re-instate full grass cutting services then it just means something else has to be cut back. “We’re working closely with Ken Kennedy at the council’s lands and parks section to identify which areas they do and don’t cover in terms of grass cutting and from there which areas are priorities. Some people feel some places should be left to grow while others are unsightly and should be cut – our job at the moment is to work out which is which and how much it’ll be feasible for us to get cut.”
Financing the project is obviously a major consideration and one on which Mr Mckay said the community council were taking a long term view.
“The community council doesn’t have a lot of money and an option we’re looking at is to apply to the Buckie Common Good Fund to help pay for the grass cutting this year. “After that we’re looking at raising our own funds; we’ve got our own gazebo which
we’re planning to have at the Buckie Christmas Kracker and are planning a couple of open days. Collection tins will be going in certain shops in Buckie, too.”
See full story in Banffshire Advertiser 16th July 2019