TOWN councillors have performed a u turn over grass cutting after furious residents protested their community is a “disgrace” with verges turned into “hay fields” and children exposed to danger.

Residents who packed into a meeting of Northallerton Town Council called for an immediate cut, particularly outside one primary school, Mill Hill, where grass is up to two feet long.

Former councillor John Coulson said:”At Mil Hill it’s above the bollards, there’s litter and dog fouling in there, what about the children? what kind of a message is the county council sending out to the pupils at that school, it is a disgrace.”

David Prattley, of Thirsk road added: “The town has rapidly gone downhill, it is totally disgusting. If the Tour de Yorkshire was coming through in a couple of weeks it would rapidly be done.”

Mayor Councillor Claire Palmer said they were looking for a long-term solution and funding, but in the meantime the council had agreed to do three cuts between July and September. As the grass is so long in some areas the council said it needed to employ new contractors with specialist machinery, and quotes were being sought.

Cllr Paul Atkin added:”The town council is also looking at sponsoring of grass cutting by residents and local businesses.”

The town council stopped cutting parts of Northallerton when North Yorkshire County council withdrew funding across the whole county for grass cutting as part of a move to save half a million pounds in the face of budget cuts of £170m.

They said only verges at junctions would be cut for safety and maintained grass cutting for amenity purposes is the responsibility of town and parish councils and residents.

Originally there had been 12 cuts a year to general areas, but this had been reduced to six with costs shared between the Town and County councils until the county council pulled out completely this year when the town council also pulled out of cutting certain areas.