Half a mile of dead grass along Walsall’s £25 million ring will be replaced after angry council chiefs berated contractors.

The stretch of lawns in Wolverhampton Road were dead within just three weeks of the much-trumpeted opening of the revamped route. But transport chiefs today promised the thousands it will cost to lay new grass will not come out of taxpayers’ pockets. The dead grass has already been removed by workers, Councillor Tom Ansell is not happy.

He said the council had made their displeasure clear to the contractors responsible.

“We are very disappointed about the state of the grass to say the least,” he said.

“Our views have been made known to the contractor who is dealing with it at their expense.

“This should not in any way overshadow the fact that the road is operational and working extremely well.”

Ward councillor Dennis Anson said he was surprised to see the grass, which ran past the fire station up to Smiths Flower Mill, had not been cared for properly.

“You would have thought they might have tried doing something to keep it going,” he said.

“It’s been quite hot over the last few weeks and you can’t blame the council for the weather.

“It looked really nice when it was done.

“We’ve had a few problems with the ring road, but fortunately that is working really well now. My journey into town takes not much more than five minutes now and it took closer to 20 before.”

Bloxwich gardener John Quinn, who runs his own gardening firm and opens his own garden to the public, said the work to lay the grass was “amateurish”.

“They’ve just put it down and than left it to die in the sun, because it clearly hasn’t been watered,” he said.

“It must have cost thousands to lay and what a complete and utter waste of taxpayers’ money.

“Even with all the rain in the world, there’s no way you can revive that now.”