Residents claim the grass is growing out of control in parts of Lochaber and nothing is being done about it.
Locals maintain that while some areas are cut, others are left in a mess or missed out completely.
The new chair of the Lochaber Area Committee said the situation is “unacceptable” and the council is “failing local residents”.
Fort William and Ardnamurchan councillor, Andrew Baxter, added: “Last autumn, along with other councillors, I agreed to transfer council grass-cutting from external contractors to an in-house service.
“I felt this would provide better value for money and an improved service.
“But from my own experience and daily complaints received from across my ward, the council is failing local residents.
“I’ve raised this issue with council officers, but have seen no discernible improvement, so I will be demanding that they come and explain what has gone wrong.”
In Kinlochleven, resident Lauren Macdonald said the grass was “almost as high as washing lines” and people living in Montrose Square, Inverlochy, maintain it has been ignored with just the roadside strips being strimmed.
Louise Cameron from Caol said the pensioners’ common gardens in the village have not been cut this year at all. “The grass is higher than the bench the poor folk are supposed to sit on,” she added.
Kilchoan on the Ardnamurchan peninsula is particularly badly affected by long grass and growing vegetation because of the narrow roads.
Resident Trevor Potts said: “For the past few years we had a local guy who strimmed the verges well back, but a couple of days ago a person came along with a stand-up mower that barely cut back one foot.
“Ormsaigbeg is a popular walk for locals and visitors alike, but our roads are narrow and if the vegetation is high, walkers won’t step off the road to let traffic past.
“People pushing prams have a difficult time too.
“This is a safety issue too as cars and camper vans have to squeeze past pedestrians who are unwilling to step into waist-high wet bracken.”
At the Lochaber Area Committee yesterday, councillor Ian Ramon, said: “In Kilchoan, some of the verges are completely overgrown. In some places the bracken is over four feet tall and bushes are growing over the road.
“It’s a disaster.”
Councillor Baxter asked ward manager, Dot Ferguson, to arrange a meeting with community service officers.
He said: “We need to discuss this in detail as the situation is unacceptable and needs resolving as soon as possible.”
