Sir, I am delighted at the keen interest being shown by councillor Laura Price on the subject of grounds maintenance in your letters page.

If only it were as simple as setting up a committee to deal with this here in Witney. There are many different strands which affect these issues.

At West Oxfordshire District Council we have been working on this for some years by mapping all the areas of public space in the district and identifying ownerships.

This is fundamental to the next stages which are to get those with responsibility for these areas, not only to fulfil their duties, but to also try to get an agreed maintenance programme bought forward with numbers of cuts, height of grass etc. at a single level for a town such as Witney.

Then, having hopefully reached some agreement on these issues, to see if there is one contractor, be it district council or a private contractor to carry out the work.

Some areas will require a more environmental approach than others and it is hoped that using this approach and combining all the open areas in Witney for example, under one umbrella will be able to make meaningful savings as well as producing the standards of care wanted by the residents.

I will continue to push this forward and look forward to receiving support from Ms Price whose colleague, Duncan Enright, has been kept abreast of matters.

David Harvey
West Oxfordshire cabinet member for environment