An Astley Bridge councillor attacked the council over its grassy green spaces saying the town is in "a mess".

Hilary Fairclough asked two questions on the issue over the course of a meeting at the town hall last week.

Cllr Fairclough, an Astley Bridge councillor and the deputy leader of the Conservative Group, said grassy green spaces are cut less than once every few weeks as is intended in spring and summer and when they are cut the result is rotten trimmings.

She said the council is on the back foot in its war on weeds after all weedkilling was brought back in-house.

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Cllr Fairclough said: "We have a town which is in a mess. You'll tell me it is because of budget cuts but we have had budget cuts for many, many years and other places manage to make their town look a lot better than ours so it is a bit of a cop out. 

"It would be good if whenever the grass was cut it did not look like the grass was cut with a knife and fork."

(Image: Bolton Council)

Richard Silvester, the cabinet member for the environment, said the budget cuts were the work of Cllr Fairclough and the Conservative Group.

He said the council's 60-or-so-strong Neighbourhood Services team is doing its best in light of these budget cuts as well as lot of wet weather.

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Cllr Silvester said: "These budget cuts have had a detrimental effect and it gets to the point where the consequences catch up with the decisions.

"Cllr Fairclough, who was the deputy leader for four years, is seeing the consequences of her decisions."

All weedkilling was brought back in-house last year after the cost of the council's contractor went up 60 per cent in around a year and a half.

(Image: Bolton Council)

The aim is three rounds of spraying in spring and summer but the cabinet member said the first round of spraying is at 60 per cent completion.

Cllr Silvester said: "The wet weather affected the treatment of weeds and other services but we will continue to treat weeds as a priority.

"When the current round of treatment is complete - and it is 60 per cent complete - we will continue with the second round of treatment."

This article was written by Jack Tooth. To contact him, email jack.tooth@newsquest.co.uk or follow @JTRTooth on Twitter.