THE streets may be paved with black gold, but the grass verges and open spaces of Europe's oil capital are going to seed as a result of the latest cost-saving measures imposed by cash-strapped Aberdeen City Council.
For more than 20 years Aberdeen has been widely recognised as the "Britain in Bloom" city, first winning the top prize in the prestigious competition back in 1965.
Victorious in both the Britain in Bloom and Beautiful Scotland in Bloom competiti
ons over the last two decades, Aberdeen last year won the Beautiful Scotland city award yet again along with the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society Trophy and the best floral displays award for Communities in Bloom.
But the £27 million in spending cuts which the beleaguered authority is having to make to help balance its books is forcing the council to make drastic cuts in its grass-trimming budget, sparking claims that huge stretches of council-owned land will be left unkempt and untidy and an "embarrassment" to the city.
This year the city council voted to halt grass-cutting in a number of areas of the city, including communal areas and other open spaces, to help save £150,000 in this year's budget.
And now, in a letter distributed to councillors, city authority leaders have revealed that a further 20 sites are to be added to the list of some 50 green spaces that are currently lying unmown. The new sites include parts of Elrick Hill Country Park, Brimmond Hill, Riverview Park and verges on various roads.
Gordon Graham, the Labour councillor for the Northfield area of the city, one of the areas affected, condemned the latest cutbacks. He says he has received a number of complaints about the lack of grass cutting in certain areas of Aberdeen.
He said: "When you see the areas left uncut, it's bringing the whole city down to be quite honest. The grass is long just now and it's causing problems and I'm getting a lot of complaints through.
"People are concerned about broken bottles, syringes and dog mess. Kids can't even get to the play park."
Councillor Graham added: "We're proposing that they follow Glasgow City Council and consider reducing the frequencies of grass cutting, so at least all the grass will be getting cut at some point.
"It's a health and safety issue and a bit of an embarrassment to be honest."
Councillor Willie Young, secretary of the Labour Group, pointed out that "broken windows theory" – an anti-crime drive first developed in the United States – showed that in communities where small problems such as graffiti and litter are ignored, it will undermine the willingness of local residents to enforce social order and lead to higher levels of crime.
"There is a danger that might happen here," he said. "We could have increased crime if people are no longer interested in their community.
"It's getting beyond a joke, because what is happening now is that people are rightly worried about the consequences of these curbs on grass cutting."
However, Councillor Kate Dean, the leader of the administration, insisted that the sites had been carefully chosen.
She said: "The areas that are being left, and it's not only a matter of budget savings but it's also a matter of encouraging biodiversity, have been carefully chosen to be away from the through-routes of the city.
"The people who live here may be wealthy, but the council certainly isn't. The fact is, council-wise, we are the least funded per population of any in Scotland."
The full article contains 597 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
