Exeter MP joins weeds row

Devon County Council today came in for more criticism over its proposals to stop the treatment of weeds in Exeter.

Yesterday Exeter City Council's Leader Councillor Pete Edwards said the idea had come "out of the blue".

And this morning Exeter MP Ben Bradshaw added his clout to the argument.

He said: "The failure this year by Devon County Council to control Exeter's weeds has been bad enough but the proposal from them to do nothing at all next year beggars belief.

"Exeter City Council is facing equally serious budgetary constraints, yet it manages to do a decent job on street cleaning, parks and its other responsibilities.

"But the image of the city is completely let down if the county fails in its duty on weed control. Next year Exeter will be a show case to the world during the rugby World Cup.

"It would be completely unacceptable for this year's fiasco to be repeated. If Devon can't or won't do the job they should hand responsibility and funding to the city who I'm sure would be only too happy to do it. This is another of the many examples where Exeter is badly let down by Tory run Devon and why Exeter would be better off running its own affairs under a single unitary local authority.

"This was delivered in 2010 by the then Labour Government, only for the coalition to reverse it in one of their first acts in Government.

"We are now seeing the damaging consequences if that, whether in weeds, the county switching off our street lights and in the worrying news this week that two of Exeter's well used youth centres might close even though there other organisations willing to take them on because of incompetence by the county council."

Cllr Edwards said: "We have had no warning of these cost cutting measures only nine working days after we thought we had resolved the situation with county," said City Council Leader Pete Edwards.

"A meeting was called to address the situation of weeds in the city on 22 September and now this comes like a bolt out of the blue! If we're taking time to talk to county about these things then why aren't we told about what is around the corner?"

"We are doing everything possible to dress this city as a place of investment but how can we do that if basic things like weeds cannot be tackled properly? The eyes of the world will be on Exeter next year for the Rugby World Cup 2015. We understand more than anyone how tight money is but there has to be dialogue between the two councils so that we understand perfectly what the challenges are that we need to look at."

Cllr Edwards said that county-wide issues such as cutting back of gritting routes to smaller communities and not re-stocking grit bins would have wider reaching implications for places like Exeter.

"How can we expect to attract investment to the city if people can't get a car off their own drive or catch a bus in the middle of winter," said Cllr Edwards.

"People will soon be asking the question 'why am I paying so much money to Devon County Council in council tax if so many of their key services are being shut down or reduced’. What is the point?"