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Agenda item

Grounds Maintenance Service

To receive a report and hold a discussion on the current position of the contract which has been brought back in house.

(Report to Follow)

Minutes:

The Sub-Committee received a report set out in the supplemental agenda which provided an update on the decision to bring the Grounds Maintenance service back in-house from 1 February 2019.

The report was introduced by the Head of Environment who advised the Sub-Committee that following the decision to bring the Grounds Maintenance back in-house, the Council was taking steps to ensure that all the staff who transferred over from the previous contractor Idverde, were being paid the London Living Wage. A benefit of managing the service in-house, was that it would allow greater flexibility to meet the standards expected by the public.

Following the introduction, the Sub-Committee was given the opportunity to ask questions about the service. The first question concerned the decision to bring the service back in-house and whether there had been any particular concerns about the performance of the previous contractor. In response it was advised that the nature of the previous contract, with a cap on the total budget available to deliver the service, together with a detailed specification of the work required had meant that in practice it was very difficult for the contractor to deliver without operating at a loss.

As the service being provided by the contractor had not met the expected standard, it was questioned what steps had been taken to address the issues. It was advised that financial penalties were levied against the contractor for not achieving the standard set out in the contract. It was highlighted by a Member that in applying financial penalties, it would have made the service even less financially viable for the contractor, which was acknowledged. 

The Sub-Committee was advised that many of the complaints from the public about the service related primarily to grass cutting and the emptying of bins in parks. It was suggested by Members that the decision of the contractor to delete the Park Ranger role and incorporate it into a broader park maintenance role may have helped to contribute towards the issues.

Despite the difficulties experienced with the contract it was emphasised that the contract had come to its natural end, rather than being terminated early.  In light of the contract coming to an end an assessment was undertaken on the different options for the service going forward. This included in-house delivery, partial in-house with certain services out sourced and going back to market for a contractor to deliver the service in full. From the analysis it was clear that the cost would be approximately the same to deliver the service in-house as going back to the market. As such it the decision was taken to bring the service back in-house as it offered the Council a greater degree of flexibility on service delivery.  A request was made for information on the business case for bringing the service back in-house to be shared with the Sub-Committee.

As it was noted that the initial preparation work for changing the delivery of the Grounds Maintenance service had started in early 2018, it was suggested that it would have been beneficial if the Sub-Committee had been consulted at an earlier stage in the process, before the final decision had been made. It was agreed that a recommendation would be made to the Cabinet highlighting the need to consult with Scrutiny prior to making decisions on large contracts.

Focussing on the delivery of the service moving forward, it was advised that the first step would be a review of the service to understand the vision for park maintenance and what the public expected from the parks. The equipment and vehicles used to deliver the service would also be reviewed as and when the current equipment required replacing.

The Sub- Committee was pleased to note that the Council would be actively engaging with the various friends groups of local parks to allow the opportunity to input into the service review. It was questioned how the Council would consult with the public in those areas without friends groups. It was agreed to recommend that further thought be given to how to consult with the wider public on the service review.

Operating the service in-house would allow greater flexibility to manage how it was delivered going forward, particularly around the deployment of staff to manage resources at peak times.  Grass cutting had been a particular issue for the previous contractor, however through delivering the service in-house it would allow staff to adjust their work to take into account seasonal growth.

It was noted that some of the parks in the borough suffered from anti-social behaviour and as such it was questioned what plans were in place to tackle this going forward. It was advised that going forward there would be an onus on staff to be the eyes and ears of the service, with a reporting process being put in place which would be easily trackable. Staff would also have training in how to deal with anti-social behaviour when it was encountered in parks.

It was noted that there was often inconsistency in the timings of when parks were locked in the evening, which may be helping to contribute towards a rise in anti-social behaviour. In response it was advised that the locking of parks would be reviewed to ensure that it was focussed on those parks where it was most needed.

It was questioned whether there would be opportunities to increase the income raised from using parks for events such as festivals and whether any funds raised would be invested back into the service. It was confirmed that options to increase the number of events held in local parks were being explored and any income raised would go back into the park service budget.

The Sub-Committee welcomed the range of opportunities made possible from bringing the service back in-house and questioned whether there were plans to improve the biodiversity of the parks in the borough. It was advised that there were a number of different boroughs who had good biodiversity programmes that the Council could learn from. However it was likely that there would be some parks that were more suited to environmental initiatives than others.

The Chair thanked the officers for this attendance at the meeting and for answering the Sub-Committee questions and invited them and the Cabinet Member for Clean, Green Croydon to attend a meeting of the Sub-Committee in the autumn to provide and update on the service review.

Information Requests

The Sub-Committee requested that further information be provided on the business case for bringing the Grounds Maintenance Service back in-house.

Conclusions

Following the discussion of this item, the Sub-Committee reached the following conclusions:

1.  Although the Sub-Committee was supportive of the Grounds Maintenance service coming back in-house, it was agreed that it would have been beneficial if more information had been included in the report on the business case for doing so.

2.  It would have been preferable for the Cabinet Member for Clean, Green Croydon to consult with the Sub-Committee prior to the decision being made to bring the Grounds Maintenance service back in-house.

3.  The Sub-Committee welcomed the move to ensure that all staff were paid the London Living Wage.

4.  During the discussion, there were various ideas raised for future service delivery, but the Sub-Committee agreed that for the immediate future the business plan for the service should have a primary focus on providing the core services at an acceptable level.

5.  The Sub-Committee recognised that there was a wide variety of parks and open spaces in the borough and as such felt that a bespoke approach, tailored to the specific circumstances in each area was needed rather than an overarching, one size fits all approach.

6.  The move toward increased engagement with the various Friends Groups of the parks in the Borough was welcomed, but it was questioned how the Council would engage with users of parks without Friends Groups. 

7.  The Sub-Committee welcomed the development of a Service Improvement Plan for the Grounds Maintenance contract.

Recommendations

The Sub-Committee RESOLVED to recommend to the Cabinet Member for Clean, Green Croydon:-

1.      That the immediate focus for the Grounds Maintenance Service should be on providing its core services at an acceptable level for the residents of Croydon.

2.      That the business plan should be developed on a park specific level.

3.      That consideration should be given to how to consult with the public in those areas without friends groups.

4.      That the Cabinet Member for Clean, Green Croydon be invited to attend the meeting of the Sub-Committee on 1 October 2019 to provide an update on the Service Review and future plans.

The Sub-Committee RESOLVED to recommend to all Cabinet Members:-

1.    That Scrutiny should be consulted before decisions were made that would change the method of service delivery, such as bring a service back in-house.

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