Agenda item

Report ES15021

Report ES15021 proposed that the Grounds Maintenance Contract with The Landscape Group (TLG) be varied to include Parks Management functions, currently delivered ‘in house’, and the Contract be extended to 31^st March 2019.

Savings of approximately £70-110k per annum would be released in 2015/16 with savings of £250-300k from 2016/17, whilst maintaining service levels and better integrating the management of operational and community engagement functions in the Parks and Greenspace Service (P&GS). The final savings sum would depend on the outcome of on-going negotiations with TLG but was estimated to be up to £1m by 31st March 2019.

Standards would be maintained and Bromley Friends’ Groups and stakeholders given a greater say in what happens on the ground in their communities. It was proposed that a holistic Parks and Greenspace service would be designed based on a Neighbourhood approach with localised teams responsible for all aspects of the service – both community liaison and the delivery of maintenance duties. This would integrate the two aspects of service delivery currently managed by L B Bromley and TLG as separate organisations.

The management contractor would work to a number of Key Performance Indicators, jointly agreed at the outset of the contract and would implement a transparent, real-time quality reporting system that could be accessed by Members and Officers. L B Bromley would retain a contract management team the structure of which would be subject to separate consultation following the Executive’s decision.

All Parks Management and Grounds Maintenance functions would be included in the enlarged Contract, the Contract extension enabling the contractor to realise the necessary efficiencies. The extension would also align the end date of the varied contract with other contracts within the Environment and Community Services (ECS) Department thereby allowing a strategic commissioning approach.

A Partnership Board would manage the contract with a proposed membership including: the Assistant Director, Street Scene and Greenspace, the Chief Executive of TLG and other key LBB and TLG management posts. The Board would manage strategic direction of the Parks and Greenspace service, set targets for performance and key deliverables, and establish freedoms to be allowed at local level in service choices, all within the Council determined Budget.

The Board would receive an Annual Plan from TLG for achievement of performance and deliverables, and monitor delivery quarterly. The Board would maintain a Contract monitoring function, assessing performance against an output based performance framework based upon agreed service standards, together with a set of key deliverables. Performance, as reported through the Quarterly Report to the Board would be linked to overall payment to the Contractor. In addition to the current KPIs for the Ground Maintenance contract, Key Performance Indicators and key deliverables would include:

To assist in strategic management of the P&GS service it was proposed to establish a Stakeholder Engagement Panel to engage with interested local groups and organisations, such as The Friends Forum, delegated sport managers, allotment associations and other similar groups. The Panel would help inform development and delivery of the Annual Action Plan which would include actions related to the Bio-Diversity Plan and management plans for parks, SSSI, heritage sites and Woodland works.

Performance of the contract would be scrutinised in line with corporate procurement regulations, via an annual report presented to the Environment PDS and Executive.

Discussions were also underway with TLG on whether they were able to bring forward a value for money proposal to manage and deliver work in maintaining the Parks Infrastructure. As it was not possible to conclude discussions in time, Report ES15021 recommended that authority to approve the inclusion of Parks Infrastructure Maintenance in the variation, be delegated to the Executive Director of ECS in consultation with the Director of Resources, subject to a proposal representing value for money to the Service.

It was confirmed to the Chairman that the Partnership Board would manage the strategic direction of the Parks and Greenspace Service, with the strategic direction flowing from the Portfolio Plan agreed by Members. The Chairman commented that the links between the Portfolio Plan and the Partnership Board target/deliverable setting might require scrutiny and alternative arrangements would be required if the Portfolio Plan ceased to be scrutinised by the Committee.

Supporting the recommendations, the Chairman suggested that scrutiny via an Annual Report to the Committee and Executive might not be enough initially and recommended that a Working Group of the Committee be established for the new municipal year to look at Quarterly performance reports to the Partnership Board. This was agreed. An outcome of the Working Group would include recommendations for the frequency of ongoing PDS Scrutiny.

For the Stakeholder Engagement Panel, the Chairman also suggested that its membership should include the Environment Portfolio Holder, Chairman of the Environment PDS Committee and Vice-Chairman of the Environment PDS Committee.

The Vice-Chairman emphasised the importance of performance standards not dropping in outsourcing the Parks Management functions. Residents had raised concerns and it was important that the varied contract delivered the quality expected.

The Chairman also suggested that it was necessary for residents to feel they were voluntarily working for the community rather than the Council. He also commented that he had expected to see more on income generation within the report, with the profit shared with the Council. Whilst ensuring that events in the parks would not lead to a degradation of the parks, events would encourage resident use of the parks, community spirit and perhaps membership of friends groups. Income could be reinvested in the parks. In response, it was confirmed that income would be expected to increase with the new arrangement with income used to support improving the parks and making them safer.

RESOLVED that:

(1)  comments from staff, stakeholders and staff representatives, as outlined at Appendix B to Report ES15021, be noted;

(2)  a Working Group of the Committee be recommended to be established for the new municipal year to review Quarterly performance reports to the Partnership Board; and

(3)  the Stakeholder Engagement Panel should include the Environment Portfolio Holder, Chairman of the Environment PDS Committee, and Vice-Chairman of the Environment PDS Committee, in addition to those proposed in the report; and 

(4) the Executive be recommended to - 

(a) approve the Variation to the current Grounds Maintenance Contract with the Landscape Group, to include the functions outlined in Report ES15021, and extend the Contract to 31^st March 2019 to allow the packaging and tendering of all Streetscene and Greenspace Contracts at that date;

(b) agree the transfer of Parks and Greenspace Services and associated staff, as outlined at Appendix A to Report ES15021, to The Landscape Group, as outlined in the report; and

(c) delegate to the Executive Director of Environment and Community Services, in consultation with the Environment Portfolio Holder and Director of Resources, the authority to transfer the unplanned maintenance functions associated with parks and greenspaces to The Landscape Group if deemed appropriate.