Council staff are working longer days and on Saturdays in an attempt to catch up with a backlog of un-cut grass throughout much of the area.

Some of the problems have been caused by machines breaking down with a long wait to get parts from Europe.

Weymouth councillor Peter Barrow has told fellow councillors that his in-box is full of complaints about the unkempt grass - which he says adds to the fire risk, increasing hay fever and is making the area look uncared for.

The Southill councillor says he fails to understand how the council has got itself in the position it has.

“What I do not understand is why Dorset Council has got into a situation where they are at the mercy of mowers breaking down and slow parts delivery.

“Dorset Council must have planned and reactive maintenance regimes in place for the mowers, what is apparent is that they have failed this year. Why were parts not readily available and why were there no spare mowers to use whilst the defective ones were being repaired?

“In addition, why did Dorset Council not let the residents know what was going on before it became a real issue.  This lack of early information led to residents wondering if the grass was ever going to be cut and much speculation about the cause of the delays,” he said.

Senior councillor in charge of highways, Cllr Ray Bryan, says the Weymouth grass cutting team in particular has suffered more than usual breakdowns this year with machine parts from Europe now harder to get than they were.

“This has exposed a lack of resilience and despite best efforts the verge cutting has fallen behind schedule. To recover from this situation Dorset Council has made a number of changes, some of which will have a positive effect now,  others will take a little longer,” he said.

The steps include staff working longer days and on Saturdays to catch up, hiring in a ‘cut and collect mower’ and ordering new mowers from a different manufacturer which has a better support network and spare part availability in the UK to reduce down time.

Dorset Council's 'no-cut' policy for many roadside verges, one of its first ecological measures, has been controversial since the outset.

In a Dorset Echo poll on the issue in 2021 those in favour of not cutting the verges during spring and early summer achieved 51 per cent of the vote, compared to those who thought they should be cut earlier or did not know.

Dorset Council claims that not only does not cutting verges until later in the summer save money but it also encourages more wildlife, with a marked increase in the number of butterflies and wildflowers.

The council policy allows for road safety with verges trimmed where line of sight is important for driver, cyclists and pedestrians.