A NEW strimmer team is being employed to tackle overgrown and unsightly grass verges across Southend described as ‘jungles’.

Lydia Hyde, Labour councillor for the environment, has revealed a range of new measures - including a new online system and cut and collect service - will be introduced after complaints.

Last week, part of Shoebury was compared to a ‘jungle’ as concerns were raised about overgrown verges left to go wild in residential areas across Southend.

A new three-man strimmer team is set to be employed and tasked with fixing the issue “immediately”, while an online timetable is in the works which will allow residents to check when their grass verge is next set to be cut.

According to Ms Hyde, the current system means grass is not collected once it is cut and can therefore lead to increased issues.

She said: “We have a cut and collect strategy, we would be picking up grass after it is cut to avoid it rotting into a compost and fertilising the ground, which encourages types of grass seed that cause issues.

“By picking them up, that has the benefit of removing the issues and discouraging faster seed growth. We must look into the equipment for this and plan that, it won’t be this season, but it would benefit us.

“The initial capital cost and new process would save us money in two ways, thanks to the grass being shorter and not growing as fast.”

Southend Council confirmed last month that four members of the council’s parks service – responsible for maintaining grass verges – took voluntary redundancy earlier this year.

The issue has further been compounded by two members of the council’s parks team being injured in a crash in Royal Artillery Way, but short-term cover has been recruited.

New equipment to replace the damaged ride-on lawn mowers has also been purchased, Ms Hyde revealed.

Ms Hyde added the council’s longer-term vision is a transformation of the seed mix being used, to remove barley grasses that grow long and replace them with wildflowers.

“We want to switch over from barley grass and have wildflowers, clovers and flowers, so we would have to cut the grass less, it wouldn’t grow as tall, and it would also look pretty,” she added.

“It will be a several-year process, but it will look lovely. I believe with this strategy we can have our cake and eat it with a planned way of doing it, tackling the long-term issues at the source.”