UNUSUAL weather patterns in the Dales this year have led to an unexpected expense for one council.

Leyburn council usually pays a contractor to cut the grass in the town's cemetery 12 times a year.

However, the mild spring and wet summer have meant the mower has already been out a dozen times - and it is only August.

At a meeting on Monday night, councillors agreed the grass could not be left to grow for the rest of the year and voted to allow the clerk, Julie Forrest, to dip into the coffers to cover additional grass cutting bills.

"I've never known anything like it; the grass is usually dying back a bit now but it's still growing quickly this year; if it was left alone, the cemetery would begin to look scruffy," she said.