Council’s mowing crew boosted to tackle Ipswich’s grass-growing season

A new in-house mowing crew has started with council to ensure the city is fully resourced as the grass-growing season kicks off.

Growth, Infrastructure and Waste Committee Chair Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding said this new mowing team is gearing up to keep fast-growing grass under control in the region’s parks, playgrounds and roadsides.

“Council have addressed the challenges of meeting the demand of fast-growing grass over several wet seasons and now have an additional 21 full-time staff on board to keep on top of the mowing schedule,” Mayor Harding said.

“Council allocated $1.7 million dollars in its 2022-2023 Budget to hire more in house mowing staff to ensure we are delivering the best possible service for residents and that has now been completed.

“Contractors will still play an important role in council’s city maintenance strategy and assist us in meeting our growing demand for services.”

Growth, Infrastructure and Waste Committee Deputy Chairperson Councillor Paul Tully said this new approach was needed to meet on-time service delivery goals and deliver services within budget.

“Soon we will have the perfect summer storm of hot and wet weather, so we ask our community to be patient as we work through the grass cutting season,” Cr Tully said.

“Any ground maintenance program can be delayed by wet weather, but council is now better placed with additional resources to meet demand.

“Having a full-time in-house mowing crew is a more financially viable option and council will be able to deliver a more consistent frontline service.”

Council previously introduced a ‘flying squad’ to improve mowing services, which was used to target areas in parks and reserves where grass grows quickly and increased the mowing schedule from every nine weeks to every six weeks.

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