Calling on community to prepare vacant land for summer

Published on 17 November 2020

Goulburn Mulwaree Council is calling on the community to prepare vacant land for the summer heat and bushfire seasons by slashing or mowing long grass now while it is green. Long grass can also present an issue with vermin and snakes.

Unusually high rainfall throughout winter and spring has meant a huge amount of growth in grass and weeds around the region, with vacant blocks in residential areas causing some concern.

“We are asking our residents and owners of residential blocks to get on top of this issue now before the grass begins to brown off in the coming weeks” said Mayor Bob Kirk.

“It has been great to have so much rain over the past few months but this has caused a lot of growth and we need to prepare accordingly prior to summer. We cannot be complacent, as in just a few weeks the heat will be here and it may be too late to mow or slash some of these areas due to bushfire risk.”

Council has already issued 148 letters in regard to overgrown property over the past month, and will be issuing further notices to owners of vacant land over the coming weeks to strongly encourage them to prepare their land accordingly for summer. If these notices are ignored a draft order will be issued, which may then result in an infringement notice and penalty of $330 for residents and landowners who choose to ignore this.

The Bushfire Danger Period in NSW commences on 1 October each year, and a total fire ban was in place for Goulburn Mulwaree at the time of writing.