A man was left absolutely baffled after he witnessed a council employee trimming down some artificial grass on a roundabout with a strimmer.
49-year-old Nigel Castle was driving through Yeovil when he spotted a man trying to remove the weeds from the middle of the roundabout by strimming through a synthetic plastic cover.
He was so confused that he asked his niece to take a picture of the scene to share with the world.
Castle wants the council to do away with the artificial grass altogether, particularly because it’s now been damaged by the strimmer.
Advert
South Somerset Council have apologised and said that the worker should have been removing the weeds by hand instead.
The council said: "Additional training will be provided. We are committed to protecting our environment."
Still, Mr Castle is taken aback by the ‘daftness’ of it all, stating that he was ‘absolutely amazed’ at what he saw.
"They've put plastic grass down, weeds have grown through it and they're strimming the weeds," he told BBC News.
Advert
"For me it's about the use of plastic grass which they shouldn't be using. It is terrible stuff - there are so many different choices that they could have used.
"Clover, for instance, is low maintenance. There's lots of plant cover that they could have put down that doesn't take a lot to maintain and is a lot better for wildlife."
According to Mr Castle, the use of plastic grass is a ‘nationwide issue’.
He added: "Too many people are putting plastic down in their gardens and they shouldn't be.
"It's got nothing for wildlife and all it does is it breaks down and ends up in the waterways. We are pumping far too much into the environment."
Advert
He continued: "It is terrible stuff - there are so many different choices that they could have used.
"Clover, for instance, is low maintenance. There's lots of plant cover that they could have put down that doesn't take a lot to maintain and is a lot better for wildlife."
The council said that the decision to lay the plastic grass was ‘not taken lightly’ and was done to ‘ensure the safety of operatives by reducing the frequency of visits’ given the difficulty of access.
They wanted to give it a ‘green feel’, although admitting that the solution was ‘in no way an ideal option’.
However, they said that they had to ‘consider the safety of their crews’.
Advert
LADbible has contacted South Somerset District Council for an updated comment.
Tom Wood