A covid outbreak that affected employees of Harrogate Borough Council meant grass cutting at Ripon Cemetery and other maintenance work fell behind, a councillor has said.
At a full Ripon City Council meeting, Cllr Mike Chambers – HBC’s cabinet member for homes and safer communities – said:
“Following a covid outbreak, a lot of staff were redeployed from their usual duties, especially to work on refuse collection.
“That meant that some tasks fell behind, but we are now getting back on track with grass cutting and other maintenance work.”
A major tidy-up has taken place at the Kirkby Road cemetery and there is also evidence of grass cutting, tree and hedge trimming in other parts of the city.
The activity, which is ongoing, follows a Stray Ferret story in which mourners spoke out about the poor condition of the cemetery.
Grass surrounding the rosebed feature on Newton Gardens had grown to two feet, but the area has now been mowed by council employees
There are also lingering concerns about residential areas of Ripon where public spaces have became overgrown.
Cllr Chris Hardisty said:
“I think the problem is that the council just don’t have the staff to manage the amount of work that they have on.”
Fellow independent city councillor Sid Hawke, who is also a district councillor, pointed out:
“I have relatives buried in the cemetery and it was in an appalling condition.
“The city is untidy everywhere you look, with overgrown verges, long grass and weeds.”
Councillors agreed to write to HBC seeking assurances that work on the cemetery and other parts of the Ripon will be maintained throughout the growing season.
Should there be staffing issues, the council says outside contractors should be employed to carry out the works.
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In response to criticism levelled at it about the cemetery, last month HBC issued a statement, which said:
Ripon City Council freezes parish precept“Visitors to several of the cemeteries across the district may start to notice that some areas are being left to grow and not mown.
“We want to encourage biodiversity so are working with parish councils to leave specific areas to grow, attract pollinators and create habitats
“We have a regular programme of work, across all of the district’s cemeteries that we manage, and when specific issues are raised we will work to address these and carry out any required maintenance.
“We will of course continue to mow the grass along pathways and around gravestones so that mourners can pay their respects to their loved ones.”
Ripon City Council will not be increasing its parish precept for the 2021-2022 financial year.
In 2020-2021 council taxpayers in the city were charged £71.89, on top of the tax paid to North Yorkshire County Council and Harrogate Borough Council.
The precept in Ripon provided a total fund of £400,000 last year.
A total of £100,000 from next year’s budget is being allocated for public events from summer onwards in the hope that coronavirus will be under sufficient control by then to allow them to go ahead.
Money is also being set aside for the renewal of children’s play equipment at Quarry Moor Park and external decoration of Hugh Ripley Hall – the building on Skellbank named in honour of the city’s first mayor.
City council leader Andrew Williams told the Stray Ferret:
“With the current covid crisis and the impact it is having, we decided to keep the precept at the same level as last year.
“It has been a difficult time for everybody with three lockdowns, causing disruption to, among other things, the city’s retailers and the education of children.
“In addition, public events that have been a feature of life in Ripon over many generations had to be cancelled because of the coronavirus.
“However, we must look to the future and make plans and allocate prudent funding that enables us to move forward safely when the lifting of restrictions allow.”
Ripon’s 2020 Christmas lights were extended after an additional £65,000 from the parish precept was spent on them last year.
During 2020, the council set aside £65,000 for a number of public and civic events, including the 75th anniversary celebration of VE Day, Saint Wilfrid’s Day procession, summer bank holiday entertainment, Remembrance Sunday and Christmas and New Year festivities — all of which had to be cancelled.
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The parish precept money, that would have been spent on these events and others, was subsequently diverted to pay for Ripon’s Christmas lights to be extended to help retailers and make city streets more attractive.
That move attracted criticism from some people who thought the money could have been better spent by providing direct financial support for retailers and other businesses affected by the pandemic.