Tending our open spaces

Aspire Community Works

Aspire is a community business and campaigning organisation committed to providing high quality, real living wage employment opportunities and promoting positive action in public service contracts. The company currently provides open space services in London and the South East and are keen to promote environmentally friendly practises that enable biodiversity. Aspire have been working with Brill for a number of years and has a committed team of employees.

Aspire Community Works is a full member of BALI, the leading trade association that represents landscape professionals, and was awarded the Queen’s Enterprise Award in 2021.

Aspire Community Works is responsible for maintaining many of the open spaces in Brill village including:

• The Green and The Square

• Most of the verges down Brae Hill and The Firs

• The playing fields, including the fenced children’s playground (but not the cricket field)

• Verges and “splays” (areas either side of junctions) on access roads, as far as the village signs

• The Walks (from 2025)

A small proportion of grass cutting in Brill is done by idverde, a huge international company contracted by Fairhive (previously Aylesbury Vale Housing Association). Idverde also cuts some legacy Bucks County Council areas of grass. The parish council does not pay for this service and we have little knowledge or control over idverde’s schedule of work.

If the need is there, Aspire will cut areas of grass that are, in theory, idverde’s responsibility, as part of its commitment to deliver overall public value to the village. Aspire is not paid for these tasks and we are grateful for these goodwill gestures.

Problems?

If you have a problem with any aspect of open spaces within Brill, talk to the Aspire team if they are in the village. Alternatively, contact the Parish Council.

Pavements and alleys in Brill village

As mentioned above, Brill Parish Council has a devolved responsibility for grass cutting within the village. This means that the parish council is also responsible for keeping footpaths, pavements and alleys clear of significant obstruction. If a hedge or shrub poses a danger or significant inconvenience to road users, including pedestrians, we will identify the landowner and issue a hedge cutting notice. If the landowner cannot be found, or refuses to cut back the problematic hedge, the parish council will cut the hedge and bill the landowner (gov uk website opens in new tab). 

We also have a duty to “side out” footpaths/pavements. This means making sure that soil, weeds and grass do not unduly obstruct footpaths or pavements. Where vegetation intruding on the public footpath originates from adjacent private land, the council will ask the landowner to cut it back. If surface weeds or grass are causing a problem, we will ask Mr Timms, a local gentleman who helps the Parish Council care for the village environment, to remove these. 

Brill Common and The Walks

Although these areas are not part of the village open spaces, we thought we’d include this information here for completeness.

The grass in The Walks is managed by our hard-working teams of volunteers and Aspire. Sheep also graze The Walks at intervals. Outside these times, the main thoroughfares and some other areas are mowed, leaving key areas (including nettles!) to grow long. If you live adjacent to The Walks, please do NOT mow the other side of your boundary fence. The grass may be long for a reason.

The grassland of Brill Common is maintained by the Brill Village Community Herd. The common is divided into four main grazing areas and the cattle are moved every 2-4 months; you can check where they are located on the Herd website. As with The Walks, there are strict limitations on what you as a householder can do on the common land. You may, for example “cut back nettles, docks and thistles adjacent to your home”, but you may NOT mow the grass, even small patches, “to create the impression of a private garden lawn”. Weedkiller and the dumping of garden rubbish are also forbidden. If you haven’t already done so, please read the Parish Council Common & Walks Policy ASAP.

In early summer, carefully selected areas of Brill common are mowed by volunteers and the grass baled as hay.

Rights of Way (RoW)

Again not part of the village open spaces but since we’re thinking about grass cutting and vegetation control we might as well finish the story!

Footpaths and bridleways outside the village are ultimately the responsibility of Bucks Highways (wesbite opens in new tab) - because all RoW are technically highways - but this responsibility is shared when parish councils have devolved services. This said, Highways (or the Parish Council) are only responsible for the surface of RoWs; a width of a metre or so. Vegetation, fallen trees, flooding or other obstructions originating from the margins of a RoW are always the responsibility of the landowner. 

On occasion, Bucks Highways helps parish councils by mowing significant RoW - for example, those associated with the county-wide Bernwode Jubilee Way. This means that Highways sometimes mow the popular Span Green footpath - but will leave side-growth to the landowner - in this case, Brill Parish Council because Span Green is common land. This means that trees like the one shown in the photo are our responsibility and we will arrange for it to be removed by a reputable tree surgeon. Lesser obstacles may be dealt with by our volunteers.

If in doubt outside the village, report problems to FixMyStreet (website opens in new tab) who will inform the Bucks RoW team. The RoW people work closely with the Parish Council and together we’ll sort it out.

Read advice to walkers from the Open Spaces Society (website opens in new tab) - and take a look at Bucks Council’s comprehensive Rights of Way pages (opens in new tab).