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Agenda item

Grass Cutting Improvement Plan

To adopt the report of the Grass Cutting Improvement Plan Working Group and to recommend to the Executive Committee that it be approved.

Minutes:

83.1          Attention was drawn to the report of the Grass Cutting Improvement Plan Working Group, circulated at Pages No. 37-56, which asked the Committee to adopt the Working Group’s report and recommend to the Executive Committee that it be approved.

83.2          The Chair of the Grass Cutting Improvement Plan Working Group indicated that the Working Group had been established by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its meeting in November 2018 and had subsequently met on three occasions.  The Working Group had heard from both Tewkesbury Borough Council Officers and partners from Ubico and West Oxfordshire District Council which Members had found very informative.  Grass cutting had commenced within the borough over the past two to three weeks, which was remarkably early compared to the previous year, and the Working Group was confident there would be a notable improvement during the 2019 season.  He thanked Officers, Members and partners for their input and hard work over a short period of time.  The Head of Community Services echoed these sentiments and reiterated that a number of improvements had already been put in place and Officers had been working closely with Ubico to establish how grass cutting was carried out within Tewkesbury Borough and elsewhere.  The Working Group’s report was attached at Appendix A to the report and included a number of recommendations, set out at Pages No. 45-46; with regard to recommendation two – that electronic mapping be made a corporate priority in order to enable IT to complete this work by February 2019 – he was pleased to report that this was in hand and was expected to be completed by the end of the month.  In addition, the Working Group had developed several Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) which, if approved, Ubico would be committed to delivering.  The KPIs included a set of standards which Ubico would be monitored on and Appendix 3 of the report provided a series of photographs which gave examples of what was expected.  He went on to advise that the grounds maintenance work carried out in West Oxfordshire had generated a lot of discussion and the Working Group was keen to consider a number of projects which could generate further improvement, for example, a review of equipment and how it was sourced etc.  On that basis, one of the report recommendations was for a Member Group to be established following the Borough Council Elections in May 2019 to oversee delivery of the Council’s grounds maintenance service and to consider and develop a number of potential longer-term projects. 

83.3          A Member drew attention to Page No. 42 of the report and pointed out that the date of Meeting 1 was incorrect and should read: Meeting 1 – 6 December 2019 2018.  The Head of Community Services undertook to ensure this was corrected prior to consideration by the Executive Committee.  A Member went on to raise concern that Tewkesbury Borough Council was currently subsidising grass cutting for Gloucestershire County Council and he sought an explanation of the justification for that.  In response, the Head of Community Services explained that Tewkesbury Borough Council maintained certain areas of land on behalf of the County Council, mainly highway verges, and these areas were currently cut at the same frequency as the rest of the Tewkesbury Borough Council-owned land despite the County Council only paying for two cuts per year.  This had been raised at the Working Group meetings where Members had been of the view that it would be detrimental to the Borough Council’s reputation to stop cutting these areas at the same frequency as the public assumption would be that Tewkesbury Borough Council was responsible for maintenance.  Notwithstanding this, one of the Working Group recommendations was for a small piece of land currently maintained by Tewkesbury Borough Council on behalf of Gloucestershire County Council to be identified for cutting twice yearly and monitored to understand the likely impact of reducing the number of cuts in other parts of the borough in future which would ultimately be a decision for the Executive Committee.  The Chair of the Working Group reiterated that the main aim of the Working Group was to ensure that the Council did not end up in the same position as it had done the previous year in respect of grass cutting; should the report and recommendations be approved by the Executive Committee, the new Member Group would consider further cost savings and efficiencies, including the impact of reducing the frequency of cuts of County Council-owned land.  In response to a query regarding a potential conflict of interest for Borough Councillors who were also Gloucestershire County Councillors, the Head of Democratic Services advised that the Council’s choice to cut the County Council’s grass to the same level as its own within the borough was a matter for the Council to determine and the references in the report specifically did not present those dual-hatted Members with a conflict of interest.  The Chief Executive explained that Tewkesbury Borough Council had approached the County Council with regard to making up the shortfall but the County Council had made clear it would not be doing that, therefore, it was a choice for Tewkesbury Borough Council as to whether it continued to cut those areas of grass at the same frequency as its own land - to date, the view had been taken that the land within the borough should be maintained to the same standard.  This information had been provided to the Working Group to note and it was not necessary for Members to debate the point at the current meeting unless that was the will of the Committee.  He provided assurance that Officers would continue to work with the County Council to try to secure an increased contribution but, unfortunately, this situation was not uncommon in his experience of working at other authorities.  In response to a query in relation to how this would impact on the membership of the proposed Member Group, clarification was provided that this would not preclude dual-hatted Members from sitting on that Group.

83.4           A Member queried whether Tewkesbury Borough Council would be required to cut additional areas of land as new housing estates came forward.  The Head of Community Services confirmed that was the case and one of the report recommendations was for the level of additional land that the Council adopted to be reviewed periodically and, where appropriate, for consideration to be given to increasing the grounds maintenance budget.  The Member questioned whether it was possible to specify what type of grass was used by developers - for instance, slow-growing or drought-resistant - in order to assist with maintenance and the Head of Community Services undertook to discuss this with colleagues in the Planning department outside of the meeting.

83.5           It was subsequently,

RESOLVED          That the Grass Cutting Improvement Plan Working Group Report be ADOPTED and RECOMMENDED TO THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE for APPROVAL, subject to an amendment to correct a typographical error at Page No. 42 as follows: Meeting 1 – 6 December 2019 2018.

Supporting documents: