Grass cutting map
The grass cutting map is designed to allow residents to quickly and easily find out when the grass in their area is due to be cut.
- The green shaded areas on the map indicate where the mobile grass cutting teams are currently working
- Select the area in which you live to find out when the grass in your area was last cut, and when it is next due to be cut. You might also see 'progress notes' added by the team
- Zoom in to see more detail using the blue navigation tools
- You can also move the map to a specific street by entering your street in the 'find a road' box
More about grass cutting in Southampton
Most of Southampton’s grass plots and verges are cut by one of four mobile teams. Two teams work on grass cutting programmes to the east of the River Itchen, and two to the west. Each team's programme should take no more than four weeks to complete, and is divided on the map into numbered mowing areas, cut in sequence from 1-7. No mowing area should take more than four days to complete, weather permitting.
Grass plots cut by the city council’s mobile mowing teams are shown on this map in green shading. Gray shaded areas fall outside of the mobile programme, and include grass within the city’s largest parks, which is cut by on-site teams rather than mobile teams, and grass within sheltered housing grounds, which is on a separate 'cut and collect' programme.
Some grass is not cut as part of these programmes in order to provide areas where wild flowers, bees, and other insects can thrive within the urban landscape. These plots are shown on this map in brown rather than green shading (see key above – Grass managed for the benefit of wildlife).
Why do the dates on the map change?
The information on this map is 'real-time' and updated daily, so you might see scheduled grass cutting dates change slightly if the team are moving through the area more quickly or slowly than expected. The teams do their best to stick to schedule, but may be slowed by prolonged spells of wet weather. In severe drought conditions when the grass is no longer growing we may suspend grass cutting.
Grass cutting around newly planted and existing trees
We only cut around trees within grass plots once a year at the end of summer/autumn to prevent scrub growing.
The rest of the year it is left because leaving grass under trees is great for:
- Tree health – reducing the damage caused to young trees from strimmer, mower or tractor strikes
- Tree health – reducing compaction to root zones under the tree as it reduces the need for vehicle access, ensuring better soil conditions for rooting
- Tree health – shading the base of trees to preserve moisture that would be burnt up by the hot sun
- Biodiversity – long grass is proven to increase insect numbers and therefore increases birds and animals that feed on insects
- Amenity of the space – increasing amenity as it is aesthetically more pleasing and provides an interface between the shorter grass and the larger structure of the tree
The only exception to this will be within Southampton’s Grade II* (Grade 2 star) Central Parks. These Victorian parks laid out during the 1850’s and 1860’s are an early example of municipal parks. They are essentially unchanged from their original layout and are recognised by Historic England. It is therefore considered appropriate to continue to maintain the grass edges around trees in keeping with the historical practise in formal parks.
