Mowing and Slashing Maintenance

Council maintains more than 10,255 hectares of open space across the Fraser Coast each year, ensuring parks, playgrounds, roadsides, and natural areas remain safe, clean, and welcoming for the community.

You can:

• See the scheduled mowing frequency for your local area by clicking on it in the Mowing Maintenance Map.
• View the Parks and Reserves Mowing - Service Level Fact Sheet(PDF, 430KB)
• Raise a Request if you notice a safety issue or an emergency.

Mowing Maintenance MapRaise a Request

How often we mow

We plan mowing and grass-cutting on a seasonal program.

Grass grows faster in summer, so many areas are mowed more often between November and May, and less frequently in the cooler months.

Different areas are serviced at different frequencies depending on how they are used:

• Regional Parks – high-profile destinations and competition-level facilities - 38 cuts (mowed weekly in summer and fortnightly in winter)
• District Parks – serving multiple communities - 26 cuts (mowed fortnightly year-round)
• Local Parks – neighbourhood parks and community-level open spaces - 18 cuts (mowed fortnightly in summer and monthly in winter)
• Greenspace – low-use or buffer areas - 12 cuts (mowed monthly to keep safe and tidy)

We also mow and slash:

• Roadside verges and medians – for safety and visibility
• Drainage corridors and stormwater channels – so water can flow and crews can access safely
• Broad open areas and buffer land – mainly for fire mitigation and basic amenity

Mowing challenges

Sometimes parks and roadside areas can look longer than usual. Common reasons include:

• Wet weather – Our large ride-on mowers can weigh up to eight tonnes. If the ground is too wet, they can get bogged and cause damage such as deep wheel ruts.
  • In these cases, mowing is delayed until it’s safe and dry enough.
  • You may also see “Too wet to mow” signs in some areas.

• Heavy rain then sunshine – Grass can grow very quickly after rain, so it may look overgrown before the next scheduled visit. The area has not been forgotten – it is in the program and our crews will return as soon as conditions allow.
• Grass clumps – Not all our ride-on mowers have catchers. After mowing, you may see clumps of grass left on the ground.
  • These clippings break down naturally over the next couple of mows and help return nutrients to the soil.

If you are concerned about a particular site, you can check the Mowing Maintenance Map or Raise a Request if you notice a safety issue or an emergency.

How we maintain different areas

We use a mix of mowing methods depending on the type of site:

• General mowing – standard mowing in parks and open space, keeping grass around 40–60 mm
• Slashing – used in larger open spaces and rural roadsides, where vegetation is maintained to about 100 mm for safety and access
• Sports fields – maintained at about 20–30 mm with extra works such as fertilising, irrigation and renovation on higher-level fields
• Specialty mowing – for drains, embankments and steep areas, often using flail or remote-controlled mowers
• Manual mowing – for small, confined or sensitive sites where larger machinery can’t safely access

Behind the scenes, this work is guided by Council’s Parks Strategy 2041(PDF, 19MB) and our Open Space Service Frequencies Framework(PDF, 323KB) to help us plan, budget and deliver services consistently across the region.

Scheduled programming and data-driven planning help us deploy crews efficiently, reduce double-handling and travel time, and keep costs down for ratepayers while maintaining high service standards.

Want the detailed schedule?

For those who want more information, you can view our detailed mowing service frequencies (how many visits per year by park type and mowing type) in the accordions below.