No change to Scottish Borders cemetery grass-cutting
- Published
A council has rejected a call to reverse a decision to change its grass-cutting regime amid claims it has left cemeteries in a "tatty state".
The Scottish Borders local authority recently switched from a 10-day to a 20-day cycle.
Opposition councillor Jim Brown said the situation was "disrespectful to those no longer with us".
Leader Shona Haslam said that the level of savings the council had to make meant "tough decisions" must be taken.
"Making 拢12m of savings is not easy," she said. "Next year we have to make 拢16m. Again, this is not going to be easy.
"But during this budget we've increased spending on roads, we've increased spending on priority areas such as mental health, we've produced a sustainable plan to review our school estates."
She said that was a first year for her administration to be "immensely proud of" and pointed out the change to grass-cutting had been unanimously approved.
She was responding to Hawick councillor David Patterson who asked if the change could be reversed in the face of "so much anger", writes local democracy reporter Joseph Anderson.
He asked it there was any "realistic prospect" of changing the policy this financial year but was told no alteration would be made.