THE HEATWAVE continues to have the city's rolling countryside gasping for water and Oxford City Council is doing everything it can to combat the hot weather.

Anyone could be mistaken for thinking they had woken up in a city rivalling the Sahara as Oxford's greenery gradually turns to brown.

As a result, Oxford City Council has been able to cut back on grass cutting and upped its duties with watering its various sites across the city to make sure all newly planted areas continue to thrive.

Oxford City Council spokesman Tony Ecclestone said: "The biggest impact of the heatwave is that we are not having to cut the grass as frequently as usual.

"The Council undertakes an annual watering programme of all our newly planted trees. We have increased the frequency of watering this year due to the weather.

"We have to water the limited amount of summer bedding we have, and some of our sports pitches, for example cricket squares. We have had to increase this slightly."

The council also added that no overtime is being worked by its officers as part of the watering programme changes.

It also said as there is no suggestion that Thames Water will impose a hosepipe ban the council is not concerned.

Thames Water has pumped an extra 450 million litres of water into its network to meet demand.

Mr Ecclestone added: "Most trees, plants and grass, are well established and will recover once we get wet weather."