War of the grass continues in Staines

He is mainly concerned with two small areas of a patch of open space in a green in Leacroft, and about a month ago, residents dished out £50 to cut the grass themselves, which he says was also covered in litter.

Mr Woods said: "One thing I have always been trying to find out is how much Spelthorne spends on the seven flower beds outside their offices, but they never reveal the information.

"I feel it is a bit hypocritical on their part, because they say they are not cutting the 27 areas of grass to attract wildlife and to save £400,000 over 10 years, but if they chipped in and paved over the flower beds, that money could be used to cut the grass in Leacroft."

Mr Wood believes it costs about £2,000 a year to the seven patches after forming his own calculations.

During correspondence with council officers, Mr Woods found out that the council have an annual contract budge for grounds maintenance of £1,257,200.

The email went on to say there is no specific breakdown of the cost of bedding plants, and that planting and maintenance form part of the whole annual contract, which is not individually costed by Spelthorne.

A spokeswoman for Spelthorne Council, said the council re-let its grounds maintenance contract in April , partly to look at their spending, adding that residents opinion helped in their research, saying that less grass cutting in parks, letting open spaces grow wild, removing formal planting areas, and selling land for housing, would reduce costs.

She said: "Due to financial constraints we needed to reduce the overall cost of the grounds maintenance contract by more than £200,000. Part of these savings were realised by removing static park attendants and measures such as not closing pedestrian gates.

"The remainder was funded by reducing grass cutting in 27 sites around the borough, one of which is Leacroft. The majority of Leacroft Green does get cut regularly but there is a percentage of the area that remains uncut. All 27 sites are being monitored by officers and members and any issues that may arise are dealt with as soon as possible."