Martin Bradley (Operations Director, Idverde), attended to update Members and answer questions. The Chairman drew attention to the Tetra Tech report commissioned by Idverde regarding public satisfaction with grounds maintenance in Bromley. The Chairman asked how Tetra Tech arrived at the question format and it was clarified that the questions were proposed by Idverde in consultation with a consultant. The Chairman noted that the survey had been sent randomly to 3000 people and there had been 336 responses. The Chairman pointed out that with respect to the figure of 3000 this only equated to 1% of the population of Bromley and with a 336 response rate this only constituted 0.001% of the Bromley population.  Mr Bradley said that he was disappointed with the response and felt that there needed to be a smarter way to catch feedback. He suggested that electronic surveys may be more useful.

A Member suggested that ‘Friends Groups’ should be consulted. There were a number of Friends Groups and active Friends Forums, many playing effective roles and the Chairman agreed with this. A Member urged caution and said that if surveys were directed primarily to Friends Groups then casual users may get missed and the results could be skewed. Mr Bradley said that the requirements of the survey needed to be reviewed.

There was a discussion about the condition of Bromley parks and concerns were expressed by Members regarding broken or no benches to sit on, litter, rats, toilets and the dredging of ponds. A Member commented that  Chislehurst  was the first ward where a park was awarded the ‘Green Flag’ status. She commented that this status was unlikely to have been achieved without the sterling work undertaken by Friends Groups and she would have liked this to  have been noted in the report.

A Member commented on work that had been undertaken by Idverde in the Orpington Ward (Priory Gardens) and said that Idverde had been excellent and had dealt effectively with issues that had arisen. 

The Chairman addressed Mr Bradley and said that there was room for improvement which the Committee hoped to see next year.

RESOLVED that the Idverde Annual Contract Performance Report be noted.