Representatives from Idverde (Richard Burton, Martyn Bradley and Zsolt Takacs) were welcomed and introduced to the Panel.

The Greenspaces Manager summarised the report.

The Chair invited public speakers to share their views on the performance of the service.

Tony Burton – Independent Merton Green Spaces Forum:

·         Merton’s Greenspaces are an essential public service.

·         Although we have had constructive dealings with idverde, performance is below par with the target exceeded in just 4 of the 14 months.

·         Not enough staff. Too few staff have basic horticultural knowledge.

·         Contract needs more active and assertive management.

·         Scrutiny need to be upskilled for large scale contracts.

·         A more regularly updated performance dashboard needs to be requested - weekly/monthly and annually.

Alison Cousins – John Innes Society:

·         Our comments overall are positive though there have been some issues of careless mowing – bark stripped off young trees and saplings, rose pushes ruined.

·         However, staff are easy to contact and make every effort to make friends group’s lives easier with hoses and equipment etc.

·         Thanked Idverde staff for helping Friend’s groups to clear litter from illegal raves. It is very much appreciated.

·         Kendor Gardens has also benefited from the Community Payback Teams.

Philomena Kennedy – Battles Area Residents Association:

Grass areas and hedges well maintained but there is a lack of attention to other areas

·         Gates locked too late at night. Problems with drinking parties, littering and ASB. Damage is being done to the park at this time.

·         Toilets facilities not open or maintained. People using greenery as a toilet, railings still not painted. Swing gates not fixed. Potholes in tarmac.

·         Repairs in children’s play area still not performed.

·         Haydon’s Road is much less maintained than other areas.

Richard Burton, General Manager for Idverde, responded:

·         Started with 79 FTEs, currently employing 101 FTE’s.

·         We do ensure staff are adequately trained.

·         As a business, we are always looking at how we can better our service and reduce our carbon footprint. We are looking to use more carbon friendly equipment.

Following Panel member questions and responses from the Assistant Director for Public Space and the Greenspaces Manager, the Panel discussed recommendations.

Panel RESOLVED (eight votes for, none against) to make the following reference to Cabinet:

“The Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Panel welcomes this opportunity to comment on the Idverde Grounds Maintenance service and to raise issues for consideration by Cabinet.

The Panel would welcome the opportunity to undertake further process mapping work on the inspection and reporting methodology within the contract. In order to fully understand how the performance data is created and reported, the Panel requests further information, including but not limited to;

·         Contract specifications / classification for different types of greens spaces.

·         Directory of standards/management plans for different classifications of green spaces

·         Findings represented by type

a)                    Types inspected in direct proportion to square meterage of that type within the borough.

b)                    Details on how the average is created

c)                    Ratio of inspections for those ‘below standard’ to how many are ‘random’. Ideally there needs to be a ‘random’ to ‘re-inspection’ ratio that forces those areas that have ‘failed’ to be re-inspected within a shorter amount of time.

Additionally, alongside this information, the Panel would like to undertake site visits to a sample of green spaces in Merton, with details of the reporting pro forma used by Client Officers when inspecting.

The Panel recommended that the Council’s Tree Strategy is reviewed and updated to include how new trees are established and how all trees are maintained.

The Panel recommends that the Council create an overarching Green Spaces strategy in line with the Council’s climate commitment and with a focus on community wellbeing.

The Panel recommends to Cabinet that the Council should consider developing a ‘One Stop Shop’ web based reporting system to make it easier for our residents to report any issues relating to parks, waste and public spaces in one place and bring an update on this to the Sustainable Communities Panel.

Further to this, a recommendation to display signage in parks informing residents on how to report issues and express their views would enable the Council to be fully aware of the resident experience of our green spaces.

The Panel recommended that a quarterly stakeholder meeting be held, made up of groups included within the independent greenspaces forum and other like-minded organisations.

For both Idverde’s Annual Report and the Independent Green Spaces Forum annual report to come to the Sustainable Communities Panel.

The Panel requested quarterly written updates from Officers providing information and feedback on how the recommendations are being met and evidence that the service is improving. This work should also be underpinned by amending the data included within the performance monitoring framework to include both a monthly and quarterly measure.

Additionally the Panel also requested that Idverde return to the Sustainable Communities Panel in one year in order to carry out a review of the progress achieved.