Costly artificial grass cheaper to keep

GLEN Eira Council has taken the unusual step of laying hundreds of metres of artificial grass on an Ormond roadside median strip.

Similar strips on the west side of North Rd are filled with concrete.

Director of community relations Paul Burke would not reveal the cost of installing the synthetic turf, but Mary McKay said most companies would charge $65-$80 a square metre. This meant the cost of the median strip synthetic grass could have run to tens of thousands of dollars.

Mr Burke said the council installed the artificial turf because the narrow strip posed a “significant safety risk” to workers mowing and maintaining real grass.

“(This) meant traffic management controls had to be put in place each time the strip was maintained.

“While these controls protect the safety of the men and women in the work area, they can be a cause of frustration to busy motorists.”

Mr Burke said the synthetic turf would be cheaper to maintain than real grass and “a further positive outcome was grass clippings that used to end up in the stormwater network no longer do so”.