Lands, Parks and Countryside

We are responsible for the management and maintenance of the soft landscaping in all Council owned parks, open spaces and cemeteries throughout Moray.

In addition we are responsible for the installation and repair of play equipment within public parks.

We also maintain the soft landscaped areas within road verges, schools and housing estates for other departments within the council.

For further information on our services or to contact us please use the links below:

• Grass Cutting 
• Parks and Play Equipment
• War Memorials.
• Road Verges
• Trees
• Tree & High Hedges Complaint/Fault Logging Form 
• Countryside Access
• Enquire about Lands and Parks

Living Lawns

Lands & Parks team will be trialling a new method to increase biodiversity by introducing a ‘Living Lawn’ area at Cooper Park, Elgin.

The concept is based on a trial carried out recently at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

A past trend in society towards perfectly green and uniform lawns has resulted in a few grass species dominating and the low-growing flowers (often referred to as weeds!) being removed. An immaculate close cut lawn provides very little resources for bees, flies, moths and butterflies, wasps and beetles which rely on a rich diet of pollen and nectar, and there is little structure for insects and other invertebrate to shelter too.

The approach is an alternative to a regular amenity grassland area allowing the grass to grow a longer between cuts to promote a diversity of flowers and encourage and allow low growing flowering plants such as, clovers, yarrow, daisy, dandelion, plantains and speedwells to thrive – plants we might often consider as weeds but pollinators will love.

The location of the trial at Cooper Park can be found here.

Grass cutting will still continue in these areas but will take place less frequently. Depending on conditions this will be approximately every 4 – 6 weeks with the grass cutting height raised to approximately 150mm. The perimeter of the site and path edges will continue to receive regular grass cutting. This approach will allow these different flowers to thrive and provide pollen and nectar resources.

For further information on this topic you can follow this link to view a video clip which provides some background.

Wildflower Plantings

Over the next three years the Council aims to create up to eight new wildflower plantings per year across Moray and is asking communities to help identify suitable locations for these.

As we face many environmental challenges in the world today there is a need for us to broaden our approach to the way we manage our diverse network of open spaces, including parks, green spaces, verges and cemeteries. The introduction of more wildflowers in our landscape helps to improve the biodiversity of our open spaces, support our health and wellbeing as we use and enjoy outdoor spaces more and more, and helps wildlife including pollinators such as bees, butterflies, moths and hoverflies which have declined in numbers in recent decades.

Since the Council no longer maintains the traditionally more expensive landscape features in our open spaces, e.g. annual bedding displays or verges on dual carriageways, it’s not anticipated that any savings in maintenance costs will be made through this initiative. Indeed, it’s likely that sites nominated for consideration, including open spaces in parks, housing areas and cemeteries, will result in a modest increase in costs.

Communities across Moray provide an important role in creating better local environment and places and many parts of our open spaces have been created, or are already cared for, by communities. We welcome community participation in developing these new landscape features. Our Community Support team is inviting Community Councils and other community groups and networks to consider their local environments and identify and nominate potential locations for consideration. If you are interested do contact your local community council to get involved.