Agenda item

ES 20132

The update on the Open Space Strategy was presented by the Strategic Commissioning Officer (Environment), the Assistant Director for Environment and the Contracts Manager for Grounds Maintenance and Parks. A brief overview was presented concerning the report and it was noted that there were five strategic objectives and that the Strategy was a 10 year strategy (2021 to 2031). The Strategy would be subject to a monitoring framework to ensure that all relevant objectives were being delivered. It was a multi-disciplinary approach to project development. 

A Member said that the report was welcome and it was good, but it did not define what success looked like. He also expressed the view that all parks should be open for as long as possible and that this was not identified as an area of success in the report.  He suggested that the use of technology and automation to open and close parks could be considered for the future. The Assistant Director responded that not all green spaces would require automation and there would be other aspects that would need to be considered such as monitoring anti-social behaviour and security where manual intervention on the ground may be required. 

A Member raised the issue of the audits of open spaces which was referenced in the report and he wondered when the results of this audit would be coming back to the Committee. The Assistant Director responded that there would be regular updates to the Committee particularly via the Idverde Performance  report. The Member made the observation that the audit would be completed by 2022  and stated that he would not wish to wait another year to see the results of the audit. The Assistant Director acknowledged this and said that this would be fitted in at an appropriate point.

A Member commented on the importance of Friends Groups and he suggested that certain community projects which could benefit from National Lottery funding should be applied to directly by these groups rather than by the Council. The Chairman expressed the view that going forward there should be better engagement and consultation with volunteer groups.

The Chairman noted the £2.5 million fundraising target and asked if this was still in place. It was reported that this target was still in place but that it was a baseline figure. The Chairman commented that this was an unambitious target and it should be double that figure.

It was felt that regular meetings should be held to check on progress against the Strategy and it was agreed that an update should be brought back to the Committee in the Summer of 2022.

Councillor Owen expressed concern about developers trying to grab hold of every green space that appeared on housing developments and made the following recommendation:

‘The Committee should support the retention of amenity greens and other green spaces installed as part of the original layout of housing development’. This recommendation was supported by the Chairman and seconded by Councillor Fawthrop. The Director for Environment and Public Protection  expressed some reservations around this recommendation in terms of the parameters of the strategy and said that this particular recommendation was not under the remit of the Strategy. The Chairman said that the recommendation had been agreed by the Committee and that the Director should  take the recommendation to colleagues in Planning.

The Portfolio Holder expressed the view that this recommendation should be directed to the Development Control Committee and this was agreed.

RESOLVED that:

1) The Open Space Strategy be endorsed as a framework for decision making in the ECS Portfolio for the period 2021—2031.

2) The Committee support the retention of amenity greens and other green spaces installed as part of the original layout of housing development and that this recommendation be referred to the Development Control Committee for their information and action.