Newcastle council charging church for cutting grass breaks 'gentlemen's agreement'

Church warden Tom Laidler in the overgrown churchyard at St Matthew's Church

A village church has accused a council of breaking a decades-old "gentleman's agreement" after it stopped cutting its grass for free.

St Matthew's Church in Dinnington, Newcastle, now faces paying for it.

The Rev Mark Edwards said it received no Church of England funding and having to pay would put him and the church as a whole under a "considerable burden".

Newcastle City Council said it was "unable" to continue maintenance without "a formal arrangement".

Mr Edwards said there had been no advance warning and he was quoted £475 for just four more cuts this year.

He said the agreement with the civic centre over the churchyard's upkeep had been in place long before he arrived in the parish in 2008.

"We are a small fellowship and those who worship with us give voluntarily and sacrificially out of their own pockets to enable us to remain open to the community," he told Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"To suddenly be told out of the blue that we must now pay for a service which up till now has been free of charge, has come as a huge disappointment."

The church has been left scrambling to find extra money as it has neither the specialist equipment, such as a ride-on lawnmower, nor the necessary staff to carry out the essential work itself.

'Regrettable and underhand'

"We simply do not have the funding or able-bodied people who can cut the grass for us," Mr Edwards said.

"Naturally we want to avoid allowing our church yard to be unkempt as we feel a sense of responsibility to all those who have loved ones buried in the church grounds and to the wider community to keep our grounds in a good state." 

He said the church has to pay the diocese in excess of £13,000 each year as part of the parish share

Mr Edwards added: "To break a gentlemen's agreement in this way without any warning is regrettable and personally I feel underhand."

Newcastle City Council said it had already cut the grass at St Matthew's four times this season

Christine Herriot, director of operations & regulatory services at Newcastle City Council, said: "We are sorry that we are unable to provide ongoing ground maintenance, without a formal arrangement in place.

"Other churches pay providers for ground maintenance and the change, part of the wider review of all council ground maintenance, has been communicated with the church.

"The church has had its grass cut on four occasions this season and as a gesture of goodwill we will offer a further four cuts this year free of charge."

The authority added St Matthew's Church would be offered its paid for service from April 2023.