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Parks, Landscape and Grounds Maintenance Consultation                

The Royal Borough’s parks and open spaces are currently maintained under contract with Idverde UK (formerly Quadron Services). This contract comes to an end on 31 March 2021.

We would be grateful if you could spare a few minutes to complete this short survey to give us your views on the current contract and service, and what improvements and changes you would like to see. The results of the consultation will help form the specification for the new contract.

The closing date for responses is 28 June 2020.

Satisfaction with the current service
Q1 How satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the following elements of the current parks and landscape maintenance and management service?
  Very satisfied   Fairly satisfied   Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied   Fairly dissatisfied   Very dissatisfied   N/A or don't use  
  Grass cutting            
  Litter picking and bin emptying            
  Maintenance of planted areas (includes weeding, planting and watering)            
  Cleaning of parks public toilets and changing rooms            
  Maintenance  of outdoor sports facilities/pitches            
  Sports pitch booking service (i.e. those bookings managed through Holland Park sports booking office)            
  Hedge cutting            
  Playground maintenance            
Q2

Visiting parks
Q3 How often do you visit the following parks?
  More than once a week   Once a week   A few times a month   A few times a year   Never visited  
  Avondale Park          
  Emslie Horniman's Pleasance          
  Holland Park          
  Kensington Memorial Park          
  Little Wormwood Scrubs          
  St Luke's Gardens          
  Westfield Park          

Park keepers and staffing arrangements
All of the Parks in question three, currently have a Park Keeper based on site during park opening hours, this fully staffed service has a high labour cost, is difficult to recruit to and is unsustainable for the future.

The Council has developed some alternative models:

Option one:
One Gardener per park with a consistent Monday to Friday 7.30am to 4.30pm shift pattern. Evening locking up, and weekend litter collection carried out by a mobile team. This is the standard model for Council managed parks.

Option two:
One Park Keeper per site with a consistent Thursday to Sunday 7.30am to park closing shift. Tuesday and Wednesday litter collection and unlocking carried out by a mobile team.

Option three:
No static staff. Mobile teams for horticulture and cleansing attend every park daily to carry out works as needed.  
Q4 Which of the alternative models would you prefer?
 
 
Q5 Do you think contractor staffing is needed on public holidays such as Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day?
 
 

Public toilets in parks
Q6 Currently there are eight Parks with public toilets. Do you think these should be open 365 days a year or do you think this could be reduced?
*Please note, disabled toilets are fitted with a Radar Lock making these accessible at all times.

Annual bedding schemes and long grass areas
Annual bedding schemes are areas that are planted up twice a year, in May and October, with plants that only last for one season.

Pros:
- Colourful and vibrant
- Traditional part of the look and feel of parks
- Some wildlife benefits

Cons:
- High carbon footprint
- Not always good for wildlife
- Labour intensive - have to be changed over twice a year
- Require more maintenance throughout the summer than long-term planting
Q7 Do you think we should remove annual bedding schemes?
Q8 Long grass areas are beneficial for wildlife and reduce maintenance, however these can look scruffy at certain times of the year. Would you support grass strips at lawn and hedge borders being allowed to grow longer in your local parks?
 
 

Temporary artwork
Q9 Would you support your local park hosting temporary artwork by local artists, including sculpture and performance art?
 
 

Increasing income
As part of the new contract we will be looking at ways to increase income from parks to offset contract costs and reduce the need to make cuts to the service. One of these options is to allow the new contractor to run events in parks that can be charged for, or sponsored, to generate income.
Q10 Would you support the Council allowing its contractor to hold a limited number of chargeable events in your local park?  (Please note this may mean some parts of the parks will not be accessible to the public, whilst the event is taking place).
 
 

Your priorities
Q11 Knowing our residents’ priorities for parks will help influence what we ask contractors to provide and how we evaluate their tenders. Please indicate how important, or unimportant, the following elements are to you in the new contract.
  Very important   Somewhat important   Not important at all  
  Horticultural quality and improvements i.e. investing in new planting schemes      
  Wildlife/ biodiversity      
  Recycling and green credentials (electric vehicles, recycling initiatives)      
  Cleansing and waste management      
  Sports facility management      
  Volunteer programmes and events      
  Working with communities      

Other comments
Q12

Community Involvement
Q13 There are a number parks which have a Friends of Group to help improve and manage the park. Would you be interested in joining a Friends of Group for your local park?
Q14 If you would like to contacted about joining a Friends of Group (and have ticked the above box) please provide the following information:
   
   
Q15 Which of the following would you like to get involved in in your local park?
 

Results of the exercise
Q16 If you would like to be kept updated on the results of this consultation exercise, please tick the below box and provide an email address.
 

About you
To help us better understand the views of stakeholders, we would be grateful if you could answer a few questions about yourself. This information will be treated in the strictest confidence.
Q17 Are you a...(please tick all that apply)
 
Q18
Q19 Your sex?
 
 
 
Q20 Which age group do you belong to?
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
Q21 How do you describe your race or ethnic origin?
 
 
 
 
Q22 Do you have any long-term illness, health problems or disability which limits your daily activities?
 
 

Using your personal information
The information you have provided to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea's Environment and Communities Services will only be used to understand respondents' views on waste and recycling. Where you have given us permission to contact you further about Friends of Groups or to receive information on the consultation, your contact details will only be used to contact you for these purposes. Where you have supplied your postcode, this may be used to map responses and to better understand the views of people from different streets.

Your information will only be used for the intended purpose, we will not collect any additional information about yourself, we will not share your data with other Council Departments and or external bodies. If we intend to use your information for any other purpose, we will normally ask you first. In some cases, the Council may use your information for another purpose if it has a legal duty to do so, to provide a complete service to you, or if there is a risk of serious harm or threat to life. The Council will retain your information in accordance with our retention schedule and it will be held securely.

If you have any questions regarding your Data Protection rights, such as accessing your personal information, etc. or if you have a concern over the handling of your information. You can email [email protected]

Thank you for completing this survey,
please click 'Submit' to send us your response
 
   
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