Grass cutting and ground maintenance

Wirral Council maintains roadside grass verges, hedges, shrubs, flower beds and weeds on council-owned land. Read more about Wirral's pollinator and wildflower verges.

We do not look after private land as this is the responsibility of the landowner. You should contact the landowner directly with any problems, including private land next to roads or pavements.

A reduced grass cutting programme is in place across Wirral for the 2021/2022 season after proposals were agreed to reduce the maintenance budget by £350k a year, whilst providing opportunities to encourage wildflowers to grow attracting bees, butterflies ,moths and other insects to the area and the potential to plant additional trees and look at rewilding projects.

This new maintenance programme means that some green spaces will have reduced maintenance or may no longer be maintained.

The frequency of grass maintenance will be reduced from 13 cuts per year to 10 cuts per year on all general grass areas in parks and public open spaces.

Key areas where growth would be inappropriate will continue to be maintained as normal. This includes, sports pitches, bowling greens, play areas and ornamental grass. Any roadside grass verges, that if left to grow would impact visibility and cause safety concerns, will be maintained by cutting a corridor edge along sightlines.

View the areas and roads that will no longer be maintained

Annual site inspections will continue to be carried out at the above sites to ensure they are safe and comply with statutory duties, but grass cutting and litter removal will no longer take place.

Find out when your area was last cut

Community involvement

For areas where maintenance will no longer be carried out, residents and ward members are invited to approach the council to request long term leasing of the land for a suitable community activity or suggest the area be swapped for another area of similar size within the same ward so that maintenance can continue.

The lease offer will either be rent free or for a peppercorn rent and could enable residents to improve the quality of community life around their chosen location. Potentially the land could be used for tree planting schemes, allotment plots, wildflower meadows or simply maintained for the local community to enjoy.

Environmental benefits

The unmaintained areas provide opportunities to identify areas for rewilding and tree planting, with the council working towards planting a further 200,000 trees by 2030 as part of the Wirral Tree Strategy.

You may have already noticed a lot more wildflowers across Wirral over the last year. Where it is suitable for wildflowers to grow naturally these areas will also be encouraged. Wildflowers provide valuable food and shelter for valuable pollinators which are in decline, as well as an attractive visual space and can help with air pollution.

View Wirral's Pollinator Plan

Wirral Council declared a climate emergency in 2019.

No Mow May

Throughout the month of May, the council will take part in the No Mow May campaign, which is about stopping mowing in general grass areas in parks to help our bees, butterflies and wildlife. The grass areas will be left from the end of April until the middle of June, following Plantlife’s national campaign.

Pathways will be cut through the large grass areas to provide walking routes, and borders will be cut surrounding existing pathways.
Multiple signs will be erected where possible at each site which will explain to Wirral residents and users of the park, the benefits of leaving areas to grow during this period.

Sport pitches, bowling greens, churchyards, cemeteries, play areas, outdoor gyms and formal areas (for example, Hamilton Square) are not affected and will be maintained as normal.

Report a problem

• tell us if an area has not been cut or maintained correctly
• report a problem with grounds maintenance

Japanese knotweed

View Wirral Council's policy on the treatment of Japanese knotweed

Giant hogweed

Find out how the council treats giant hogweed

Trees along the road

View more information about trees along the road

Rewilding areas and roads