BRIDPORT: The town council has agreed to take on cutting verges in the town six times a year.

Dorset County Council is offering £12,000 a year if Bridport Town council agrees to take over responsibility for grass cutting.

Town surveyor Daryl Chambers told members of the finance and general purposes committee that it was something the council could and should do.

He said: “I am happy to say I don’t think it would be an issue us taking it on at what they are offering us.

“It will consist of a minimum of six or seven cuts a year starting in March and will be virtually every month.

“The idea of verge cutting is you do it often and regularly then you are not having lots of grass all over the place, whereas if you let it get long, which is happening at the moment, it looks dreadful when you cut it.

“We may have to look at some machinery and we may have to look at some staffing and other issues but in principle I think we should take it on.”

Cllr Anne Marie Vincent asked if the money being offered was enough to pay for a staff member.

“Because I get the sense that our staff are fully worked up,” she said.

Town clerk Bob Gillis said when the budget was looked at next year councillors would need to see how to fund the work and potentially take on a new member of staff.

He said: “The county council are offering to pay £12,000 for this work.

“However, they cannot provide any one-off funding to buy equipment or to offer training.

“With that amount of funding and other changes to staffing we are confident that we can deliver this work. This is something we feel the people of Bridport would like the town council to take on.”

Cllr David Tett said he was sure it would be done a lot better by the town council than the cuts are now.

The area to be cut covers 70,600 metres and it is estimated that it would take two or three staff a week for each cut.