Issue - meetings

Matter for Decision

As the Council’s largest frontline service, Streets and Open Spaces (S&OS) has undertaken a review to consider how best to deliver the service in future, taking into account the increasing demand placed on the service by growth, as well as the need to continuously deliver value for money for the Council.

 

At the 29 June 2017 Community Service Scrutiny Committee, the Executive Councillor for Streets and Open Spaces accepted the findings of the service review and approved a four year service development strategy (2017-21).

 

The Officer’s report set out the first phase programme of proposed service changes to deliver the approved strategy and achieve the target outcomes. Subsequent programme phases, detailing further proposed changes, would be developed and reported to future Committees as required.

 

Decision of Executive Councillor for Streets and Open Spaces

       i.          Approved the proposed review of the following operational service areas, with the aim of aligning resources to service needs:

a.    Operational management and supervision structure and capacity.

b.    Operational overlap in City Ranger and Grounds Maintenance and Street Cleansing service activities.

c.    Community engagement and education service structure and capacity.

     ii.          Supported, as a stakeholder, the proposed joint streets and open spaces and waste ICT management systems project involving Cambridge City and South Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire District Councils.

   iii.          Approved the proposed rescheduling of cleaning to the following public toilets:

a.    Arbury Court.

b.    Barnwell Road.

c.    Chesterton Recreation Ground.

d.    Chesterton Road.

e.    Coleridge Recreation Ground.

f.      Jesus Green.

g.    Lammas Land.

h.    Mill Road.

i.       Nightingale Recreation Ground.

j.       Romsey Recreation Ground.

k.    Kings Hedges.

l.       Victoria Avenue.

   iv.          Requested a report to Committee on the events service review and associated recommendations, including changes to fees and charges and protection of the green spaces, in January, 2018.

    v.          Approved the introduction of car park charges at Lammas Land car park, to deter long stay commuter and shopper use; and delegation of authority for approving final charging system to the Strategic Director, in consultation with Executive Councillor for S&OS.

   vi.          Approved the roll out of pictorial meadows and other such attractive and environmentally friendly planting schemes in place of ornamental bedding on city-managed sites.

 vii.          Delegated authority to the Strategic Director, in consultation with Executive Councillor for S&OS, to approve any resulting changes to the staffing structure arising from any approved phase 1 programme proposals.

 

Reason for the Decision

As set out in the Officer’s report.

 

Any Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

Not applicable.

 

Scrutiny Considerations

The Committee received a report from the Head of Environmental Services. He tabled an addendum to the report to clarify Kings Hedges and Victoria Avenue public toilets would be included in the rescheduled cleaning arrangements. This was set out in the main body of the report, but omitted from the covering report recommendations.

 

             iii.          Approve the proposed rescheduling of cleaning to the following public toilets:

a.    Arbury Court.

b.    Barnwell Road.

c.    Chesterton Recreation Ground.

d.    Chesterton Road.

e.    Coleridge Recreation Ground.

f.      Jesus Green.

g.    Lammas Land.

h.    Mill Road.

i.       Nightingale Recreation Ground.

j.       Romsey Recreation Ground.

k.    Kings Hedges.

l.      Victoria Avenue.

 

The Executive Councillor said the strategy was about how actions would be undertaken, not what would be undertaken. The review would be staff led if it were approved by committee today.

 

Opposition Councillors made the following comments in response to the report:

       i.          Expressed concern about perceived cuts to services such as toilet cleaning on Jesus Green.

     ii.          Sought reassurance that the service review would not lead to staff reductions.

   iii.          Suggested that members of the public did not have time to undertake volunteer maintenance work.

   iv.          Sought clarification about who paid for repairs to the public realm after events. If it was the event holders, sought reassurance maintenance would be done immediately after events as sometimes this did not occur eg after the Beer Festival.

 

The Head of Environmental Services said the following in response to Members’ questions:

       i.          Frequency of cleaning times were proposed to be reduced for toilets identified as low usage facilities. The Head of Environmental Services was confident that services could be reduced and cleaning standards maintained. The situation would be monitored and cleaning times amended if required. Usage could be monitored through coin box deposits of pay-for-use facilities and data extrapolated for nearby ‘free’ toilets.

     ii.          The service review had 3 themes:

1.    Improving operational efficiency while maintaining high standards.

2.    Making Cambridge ‘greener’.

3.    Increasing income generation.

   iii.          The strategy aimed to address service overlap. There was no clear idea how to do so at present, which was the point of the review. There was no plan to delete services that people valued, the intention was to keep these and give them the resources they needed but remove the overlap in services.

   iv.          There was no fixed plan on how to resolve issues or the impact of proposals on staff. There were some vacancies in the service at present. If some staff implications arose from the review it was hoped some staff could be transferred to the vacant posts or new ones created in future.

    v.          The future of the Jesus Green toilet was uncertain, so there was no plan to invest in it at present but necessary maintenance work would be undertaken.

 

The Strategic Director said that a decision on the pool and pavilion were due in Spring 2018, which would enable officers to take a decision on the best way forward in relation to the Jesus Green toilets. In the meantime issues such as anti-social behaviour would be monitored and any necessary refurbishment undertaken.

   vi.          Volunteer/community work on the public realm was popular at present and this side of the service was growing. Officers would cover what volunteers could not.

 vii.          Making Cambridge Greener was a corporate priority to make the public realm more environmentally friendly such as re-routing vehicles to reduce mileage. The Service was committed to this through actions such as changing diesel vehicles to electric.

viii.          Event organisers had to pay for maintenance work to repair the public realm after events. This was part of their licence. The Head of Environmental Services undertook to follow up concerns about damage caused to the public realm as a result of the Beer Festival.

 

In responses to questions the Strategic Director said work was currently underway to procure a new single integrated ICT management system, including mobile working technologies, for the streets and open spaces and waste services of Cambridge City and South Cambs and Hunts District Councils. This would be an integrated customer service system that councillors and officers could follow progress against ‘tickets’ (reported issues) once they were raised by members of the public etc. The Strategic Director undertook to brief Councillors on the current position after the meeting.

 

The Committee resolved by 6 votes to 2 to endorse the recommendations (as amended).

 

The Executive Councillor approved the recommendations as amended.

 

Conflicts of Interest Declared by the Executive Councillor (and any Dispensations Granted)

No conflicts of interest were declared by the Executive Councillor.