GREEN-fingered residents are up in arms over the "mess" left by council mowers.

A tenants' group in Acomb, York, shelled out thousands sprucing up the estate up by planting colourful plants and shrubs in communal areas.

But they were dismayed when council mowers moved in on Lindsey Avenue - and "cut it to pieces".

John Bevan, chairman of the local neighbourhood watch group, said: "They would be better doing away with the grass cutter and bringing in sheep.

"At least the grass would be level."

The 62-year-old carer claimed the £3,000 spent improving grassed areas in Lindsey Avenue had been "wasted".

Mr Bevan, also a committee member on the Lindsey Avenue Tenants' Association, has reported the latest incident in a long-running mowing saga to council chiefs.

He said: "We had all the flowers and shrubs in and it looked really nice.

"Now you can hardly see the plants for clumps of grass.

"It's disgusting. The man has come with the cutter and just cut it to pieces.

"He has not strimmed - just cut it up. There is grass everywhere.

"The man said the mower was set to its lowest level, but I told him the grass looked better before he started."

The Lindsey Avenue work is part of an ongoing green programme that has also seen £6,000 spent making neighbouring Sowerby Road look more attractive.

The aim - part of City of York Council's flagship York Pride policy - is to stop cars parking on verges and make neighbourhoods more attractive.

But Mr Bevan said the mower misery made a "mockery" of York Pride.

Tenants' Association chairwoman Pat Holmes said the Sowerby Road area had not been damaged by the mowers and looked "beautiful".

But she admitted Lindsay Avenue was now a "mess" and the general issue of grass cutting across the city had to be raised again with the council.

"It's a shame," she said. "We have spent a lot of money on flower beds and we want it to look nice. It's not fair if they mow too fast or the machines are blunt."

A City of York Council spokesperson said: "A fence has been put up around the area and is preventing us from getting in with the ride- on mower, which gives a better standard of cut and leaves less grass behind.

"We are trying to arrange for a gate to be fitted in the fence so that we can get access with the ride-on mower in the future."

Updated: 10:33 Thursday, June 23, 2005