Mowing parks, reserves and facilities

Mowing parks, reserves and facilities  

The Shoalhaven has around 1200 reserves and parks in addition to sportsgrounds, facilities and grassed pathways that need regular mowing and maintenance.  While residents generally mow and maintain the nature strip in front of their property, for the most part, Council takes care of all the public open space in the region.

We have a mix of staff - from horticulturalists caring for the grounds around our leisure centres, to maintenance crews who incorporate mowing into their day-to-day roles in your neighbourhood. We love caring for our grass and making everything look great, but it does have its challenges when it comes to the seasons and inclement weather.

Council’s mowing program

The majority of public open spaces are mown regularly in the summer months, with less mowing in the winter when there is minimal growth.  Over summer you will see us attend to areas on a planned schedule.

Why is the grass so long? And when will you get to it?

From heavy rainfall, fire bans to equipment failure, there are times when we can’t get to mow. Every park, roadside and sportsground is on our list, but sometimes we just can’t get to it as quickly as we’d like.  And with two natural disasters this year and record rainfall, we’ve not always been able to get out to the fast-growing grass.

During wet weather mowing is often not done because

• The soil is sodden
• This causes the mower to bog
• And can lead to equipment and ground damage

When this happens, we’ll leave a sign up telling you that we’ll be back as soon as the weather is clear to mow the lawn.

Check out our video with Horticulturalist Blake Douglas who tells us why mowing after heavy rain is damaging to our grass.

Does Council mow all the grass in the region?

There are grassy sections that are maintained by the NSW Government such as grass adjacent to the Princes Highway and other main roads. If you need to report a safety issue, contact council via Report, request or provide feedback | Shoalhaven City Council (nsw.gov.au)

Mowing schedules across the region

Please note this is the first phase of collating and publishing the schedules from across the Shoalhaven. We’ll continue to improve on the format and data as the project progresses.