'It used to be beautifully maintained - now it's the forgotten land': Dismay at state of grass bank
A woman living by a major Black Country road is complaining of unloved and unkempt grass verges.
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Joan Read has said that the grassy verges outside her home on Birmingham New Road in Tipton have been left uncut and very untidy after no-one from Dudley Council had come by to maintain them.
Ms Read said that while she lives in Sandwell, the area along Birmingham New Road was meant to be maintained by Dudley Council due to a cross-border agreement drawn up between Sandwell and Dudley Councils which would see each council maintain land on the border area.
The 86-year-old said: "Before 1966, this area was maintained by Tipton Borough Council and it was beautifully maintained, so much so that we had families having picnics on it, but then we became part of Sandwell and it wasn't being cut nearly as much, so I checked and found out it wasn't even being shown on their maps.
"Things were then okay for a little bit before it all started to go haywire again and I couldn't get anything out of the council, so spoke to my MP Betty Boothroyd and asked her to take it up with the Highways Agency, after which it was established that it was Dudley Council's responsibility.
