A CARDIGAN councillor is encouraging townspeople to grab a mower or strimmer and help maintain the town’s green areas themselves in the wake of stringent cuts to Ceredigion County Council services.

Deputy Mayor-elect Cllr Steve Greenhalgh believes a ‘DIY’ approach could be the way forward as the local authority seeks to offload more and more responsibilities on town and community councils.

“Ceredigion County Council are doing what they can to dump everything on people like us while the services they offer continue to decline,” he told colleagues.

“If people feel the grass in any given area needs a cut then there is nothing to stop them grabbing a strimmer and doing the job themselves.”

However, Cllr Greenhalgh’s suggestion perturbed fellow Lib Dem councillor Philippa Noble.

“We’re about to receive our council tax demands and if we go round telling people to maintain these green areas themselves they are going to lynch us,” she said.

“The question I would ask is do people wish to be part of a society that provides help and support,” retorted Cllr Greenhalgh.

Following a prolonged discussion councillors agreed to offer to maintain the town’s green areas – provided Ceredigion County Council offered them on a lease so they could subsequently apply for grant funding.

“If we all work together on this we’ll be able to keep the budget to a minimum,” said Cllr Richard Davies. “What we need to do is identify the high and low priority areas.”