Grass Cutting

The Parks and Open Spaces team is responsible for grass cutting of approximately 70 hectares of open space. The grass cutting season will generally be between March and October depending on weather and ground conditions.

The document below lists East Cambridgeshire District Council's grass cutting frequency which is normally every 15 working days. There are some areas that are only cut three times per year, these areas are cut on behalf of Cambridgeshire County Council Highways.
 
The timescales shown are all dependent on operational issues, weather conditions and other priorities.

The open spaces team are conscious of the valuable role of pollinators for biodiversity and to the food chain as a whole. We seek to amend grass cutting where feasible to allow for longer grass to grow and wildflowers to thrive in certain locations.

For more information on how we are working with parishes and groups to enhance our green spaces for wildflowers and pollinators please see our most recent wildflower and grass cutting progress report (PDF).  

Rare Bee orchids

Our Bee orchids are now just beginning to flower, with around 96 flower spikes counted on the verges along Norfolk Road and the adjoining public open spaces alone.

From the winter survey, which was carried out by The Local Ely Group of the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire, this is a very good average for the species. When the orchids have flowered and set their seed, the Parks and Open Spaces team will be able to cut and collect the arisings from these protected areas.

If you spot a colony of Bee orchids, or identify any other rare plants around the city, please report them to Dr Moore on 01353 664745.

Members of the Local Group and the Ely University of The Third Age Botany group will attend the site and confirm the identity of the plants before notifying the Open Spaces team at the council should the area need to be protected.