West Lothian Council delivers

Parks, gardens and open spaces - Garden Maintenance Scheme

 

The Garden Maintenance Scheme is a scheme provided by West Lothian Council to prevent gardens becoming overgrown. There is set rules for eligibility to benefit from the scheme:

Applicants and all members of the household must be either
1. Aged 16 - 65 and in receipt of disability living allowance, or
2. Aged 65 - 70 with the application form signed by a doctor, or
3. Aged 70 years or over, or
4. Registered blind.

Please note we no longer accept applications from Weslo Housing Management or Almond Housing Association. Please contact Weslo direct on 01506 634060 or Almond Housing on 01506 439291.

Please note that other housing assocations may charge. West Lothian Council request authorisation from housing associations prior to application being accepted.

You may have the right to appeal if your application is rejected.

* Please note that it can take up to 5 weeks to process applications and have your garden placed onto the scheme. We aim to have 100% of applications processed within 5 weeks.

If you are accepted onto the scheme, the service will provide the following:
Grass cut every 2 - 3 weeks, 11 times in total.
Small rough areas and edges will be strimmed 4 times per year and hedges cut once between October and December.

You may have to pay for this service if you are not in receipt of a means-tested benefit.

You will have to pay if your are a private householder and not in receipt of a means tested benefit ie Pension Credit, Income Support, Council Tax Benefit (Excluding Single Person Discount) etc.

The fees for 2011 are based on Garden size and are branded into the following four categories:

Band A - £64.97, Band B - £97.43, Band C - £103.94, Band D - £129.94

Please note that the scheme does not cover:

1. Cutting of old vegetable plots or overgrown areas
2. Digging borders.
3. Weeding borders.

Service Improvements

Customers who were part of the scheme last year will have been aware that at points during the season the service slipped behind in its timescales, due to the inclement weather and heavy rain fall experienced last summer and autumn.  We did however manage to get caught up and complete the service fully by the end of the season.

In order to avoid similar problems this season we have implemented a number of changes to the service with the ultimate aim of improving the service provided to our customers. These changes include reviewing and implementing new shift patterns, as well as increasing the number of staff we have available to the service. We hope that these measures will lead to better use of resources and therefore a better and more efficient service to our customers.

Should you wish to make an enquiry into the service or provide comments/suggestions, you can do so by telephone on 01506 775000, using the appropriate form at your local Council office or by writing to:

NETs and Land Services
Waverley Street Depot
Waverley Street
Bathgate
West Lothian
EH48 4HX

updated 07/09/11