Issue - meetings

To consider the attached report of the Director of Environment and Corporate Assets.

The Head of Parks and Open Spaces and the Principal Infrastructure and Delivery Officer presented the report on General Repairs to Parks, Gardens and Churchyards.

Members were advised that the current open spaces strategies had successfully delivered a number of priority projects, such as the restoration of Kearsney Abbey and Russell Gardens. The transfer of the grounds maintenance service in-house also provided the Council with the opportunity to deliver smaller scale projects such as repairs to uneven footpaths in the Council’s strategic parks.

It was now necessary to review the open space strategies to ensure that the identified priorities were up-to-date and reflected the Council’s current capabilities. To that end Cabinet had allocated £60,000 identified within the Medium Term Financial Plan towards the cost of updating the strategies, and addressing the most urgent repairs to structural features within the Council’s parks, cemeteries and churchyards. The list of urgent repairs had been drawn up in consultation with the Council’s Health and Safety Officer.

Members raised the following points:

·         The need for increased provision of dog waste bins.

·         The need for a strategic assessment of play area need.

·         The disposal of grass cuttings at Markwood. In response the Head of Parks and Open Spaces highlighted the costs of collecting and disposing of grass cuttings from parks and issues with capacity at the waste sites.

·         The provision for dog exclusion zones at play areas. In response it was confirmed that all play areas were dog exclusion zones.

·         The importance of maximisingrevenue for the Council from events on Council land.

The Principal Infrastructure and Delivery Officer urged councilors and members of the public to respond to the consultation on the updated open space strategies when it was launched.

RESOLVED: That the report be noted. 

To consider the attached report of the Director of Environment and Corporate Assets.

Responsibility: Portfolio Holder for Property Management and Environmental Health

It was agreed:

(a)  That the allocation of £24,392 of the £60,000 from the Special Project Reserve provision included in the Medium-Term Financial Plan, to contribute towards the cost of preparing updated open space strategies for the District, be approved.

(b)  That the allocation of £35,608 of the £60,000 from the Special Project Reserve provision included in the Medium-Term Financial Plan, to carry out urgent repairs to structural features within parks, cemeteries and closed churchyards, be approved.

(c)   That the Head of Parks and Open Spaces be authorised, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Property Management and Environmental Health, to procure necessary repair works.