Parks, Landscape and Grounds Maintenance

The contract to maintain the Council's parks and open spaces came to an end on 31 March 2021. The Council wanted to consult with residents and park users on the current contract and service, and what changes they would like to see. The results of this consultation helped inform the specification of the new contract.

• Satisfaction with current provision:  The highest levels of satisfaction with the current service were with the grass cutting in parks and the maintenance of the planted areas. There was less satisfaction with litter picking and bin emptying and hedge cutting. The highest level of dissatisfaction was with the cleaning of toilets and changing rooms.
• Park keepers and staffing arrangements: The most popular option for future staffing arrangements was option one which was one gardener per park with a consistent Monday to Friday 7.30am to 4.30pm shift pattern. Evening locking up, and weekend litter collection carried out by a mobile team.
• Your priorities:  The most important aspect of the new contract for respondents were cleansing and waste management followed by wildlife/biodiversity and recycling and green credentials. The least important were sports facilities and volunteer programmes and events.

The results of the consultation were shared with bidders for the new contract so that they could understand how you feel about the service and propose ways they believe they can make it better. In addition to this:

• The preferred park keeper model was included in the tender as per the consultation results but the winning bidder offered us an enhanced model which we have accepted so residents are getting more than what was specified in the consultation.
• Some of you asked for the ability to make online bookings for sports facilities. This will be a requirement in the new contract.
• 30 per cent of respondents would like to be involved in volunteering/ helping to maintain the park. The new contract includes increased community engagement and volunteer programmes and we will contact interested respondents to help develop these programmes further.  
• Concerns have been raised about cleanliness of public toilets and litter collection. These areas have been highlighted as high priority in the new specification with stricter monitoring and enforcement included in the new contract.

Residents’ priorities will help us determine topics for negotiation and for the management of the new contract to ensure it is focussed on park user needs.