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Parks and Greenspaces Final Report

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Meeting: 26/07/2018 - Cabinet (Item 27)

27 Parks and Greenspaces Final Report PDF 63 KB

Report of the Head of Regulation and Compliance

Additional documents:

Enc. 1 for Parks and Greenspaces Final Report, item 27 PDF 301 KB

Minutes:

Further to Minute No. 10 of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Regeneration and Skills) held on 3 July 2018, the Cabinet considered the report of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Regeneration and Skills) Parks and Greenspaces Working Group.

The Cabinet placed on record its appreciation for the work undertaken by the Members and Officers of the Working Group.

Decision Made:

(1)	That consideration and further research continues to take place on future service delivery mechanisms for the newly forming ‘Green Sefton’ service. These, together with other day to day innovations, to seek to reduce the reliance on the service on revenue budgets whilst still providing sites that communities value, feel safe in, and remain freely accessible, be approved;

(2)	That the Head of Communities in consultation with Corporate Communications be requested to investigate the possibility of a Sefton Parks and Greenspaces application for electronic devices to enable visually impaired individuals to safely and confidently navigate around Sefton’s Parks and Greenspaces, encouraging individuals to visit parks and greenspaces;

(3) (4)	That the Head of Communities be requested to continue exploring and developing food growing projects, such as communal allotments in parks; That the Head of Communities be requested to continue exploring and developing the volunteer hubs, such as that at Botanic gardens old nursery site;

(5)	That the Head of Communities be requested to continue to arrange ‘Volunteer Celebrations’ and offer thanks formally to all volunteers who contribute so much to our Parks and Greenspaces; and

(6)	That the Head of Communities be requested to report annually or when appropriate, whichever is the sooner, to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee updating the Committee on progress

Reasons for the Decision:

The Working Group has made a number of recommendations that require approval by the Cabinet.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

No alternative options were considered. The Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Regeneration and Skills) established a Working Group to review Parks and Greenspaces in Sefton and the Working Group has performed this task.

Meeting: 03/07/2018 - Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Regeneration and Skills) (Item 6)

6 Parks and Greenspaces Final Report PDF 63 KB

Report of the Head of Regulation and Compliance

Additional documents:

Enc. 1 for Parks and Greenspaces Final Report, item 6 PDF 301 KB

Minutes:

Further to Minute No. 18 (2) (b) of 20 September 2016 the Committee considered the report of the Head of Regulation and Compliance that presented formally the final report of the Parks and GreenspacesWorking Group.

The Working Group was established with the following Terms of Reference and Objectives:-

· Review the General Reduction in Standards’ saving proposal for 2015-17, and the evolved draft ‘Better Places, Greener Spaces - Future Management Parks and Greenspaces’ document

· To support and/ or challenge this and make recommendations as appropriate to improve the proposed strategic approach and its resulting resource allocation and future changes to service delivery

· To undertake annual reviews of the impact of the approach once enacted in order to track the impact of changes to service and react/ make recommendations accordingly

Accordingly, the Working Group met on four occasions as part of the review and undertook site visits of parks and greenspaces across the borough; and its Final Report, together with associated recommendations, was attached to the report.

Councillor Bliss was appointed as Lead Member of the Working Group and introduced the Final Report and commended the recommendations within it to the Committee; and thanked officers and his colleague on the Working Group, for their hard work and input into the Final Report.

Members of the Committee asked questions/made comments on the following issues:-

· An update on the management of allotments was requested and Mark Shaw, Service Manager – Green Sefton agreed to circulate an update to all Members of the Council

· There appeared to be no direct reference in the Final Report to first of the terms of reference of the Working Group, namely, to Review the General Reduction in Standards’ saving proposal for 2015-17, and the evolved draft ‘Better Places, Greener Spaces - Future Management Parks and Greenspaces’ document

· The submission of annual reports to track the progress on the implementation of Working Group recommendations

· Alternative service delivery mechanisms, such as ‘Parks Trusts’

· The possibility of a Sefton Parks and Greenspaces application for electronic devices to enable visually impaired individuals to safely and confidently navigate around Sefton’s Parks and Greenspaces and the trial of such an application in Kings Gardens

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet be recommended to approve the following recommendations:-

(1)	That consideration and further research continues to take place on future service delivery mechanisms for the newly forming ‘Green Sefton’ service. These, together with other day to day innovations, to seek to reduce the reliance on the service on revenue budgets whilst still providing sites that communities value, feel safe in, and remain freely accessible;
(2)	That the Head of Communities in consultation with Corporate Communications be requested to investigate the possibility of a Sefton Parks and Greenspaces application for electronic devices to enable visually impaired individuals to safely and confidently navigate around Sefton’s Parks and Greenspaces, encouraging individuals to visit parks and greenspaces;
(3)	That the Head of Communities be requested to continue exploring and developing food growing projects, such as communal allotments in parks;
(4)	That the ... view the full minutes text for item 6