A scheme that helps villages around Worcestershire improve their local area will benefit from £75,000 of additional funding this year.
Under the Worcestershire County Council funded initiative, all parish councils that are member of the Parish Lengthsman Scheme will get an additional 15% this next year for a local ‘lengthsman’.
The lengthsman duties include basic maintenance work on footways and highways prioritised by the local parish.
Councillor Alan Amos, Worcestershire County Council Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Highways and Transport said:
“It’s great news that Worcestershire County Council has allocated more funding to this initiative in its budget this year. The scheme enables us to devolve some minor highway works to parish councils, allowing them to identify and fix any smaller maintenance issues. This has proven to be very popular in recent years, giving local parish councils more say over works which really matter to their local community.
Parish Lengthsmen provide a much-appreciated service locally that can have a huge impact, such as ditch and drain clearing, hedge cutting and sign cleaning.’’
The scheme has been so successful, that 150 Parishes in Worcestershire are now part of it.
The term ‘lengthsman’ dates back to the 1800s, referring to workers who were responsible for keeping a particular length of road neat and tidy.
The modern role of Parish Lengthsman was reintroduced by Worcestershire County Council to give communities more say in how their local area is maintained.
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