2021 (Part 2)

GM0875 – Memorial benches in parks, open spaces and burial grounds – 241221

This authority would like information on how you provide and deliver memorial benches in Parks, Open Spaces and Burial Grounds. The authority would be interested in further information on time limits, maintenance, agreements with purchasers and contracts for the supply of benches if any of this is applicable to your authority.

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GM0875 - Fields in Trust Status and redevelopment of parks infrastructure - 141221

A member authority has aspirations to identify a number of parks and open spaces for Fields In Trust status, however, they also want to consider the possibility of redeveloping park assets and infrastructures, such as cafes, play areas and sports facilities, and have concerns that FIT status may prohibit certain types of development, or create delays in the planning process etc.

Have any other local authorities faced similar considerations and how have they dealt with Fields in Trust Status and redeveloping assets and infrastructure such as those mentioned?

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GM0874 - Issuing and managing the distribution of PPE stock - 131221

A member authority is looking for information on how other local councils manage and issue PPE stock control effectively.

They are looking at ways of how to develop the most effective system that allows them greater control over incoming and outgoing items and recording stock levels while allowing crews to receive what they need when they need it.

Currently, the process they have in place for weekly PPE requests involves a shared document that staff complete, and staff work off this in order to issue from their store or order in as necessary.

The main challenge is keeping PPE records that are accurate to reflect what remains in the store.

The member authority would therefore appreciate any information and advice which may help them to improve their current procedures, in particular:

• What procedures/systems does your council have in place for PPE Requests and Issue?
• Can you provide any examples of what works well?
• Do you manage your PPE stocks manually or electronically?
• Is your PPE store access limited to certain staff or to a wider group?-
• How do you manage PPE Issue outside of normal issue periods/emergency situations and how is it recorded?

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GM0873 -Lighting in parks - 061221

A Local Authority would like to know if others have a policy regards providing lighting in parks.

They are looking for information regards the following:

• Are all parks lit – what was/is the criteria used for introducing lighting?
• What hours is the lighting operational?
• Has an environmental impact assessment been carried out for each location?.
• Since its introduction has there been an increase in park use?
• Has there been an increase or reduction in anti-social behaviour?
• Have types of lighting been trialled which seek to reduce carbon footprint?
• Have types of lighting been trialled which seek to reduce impact on bats or pollinators?
• Has the lighting infrastructure (columns, bollards, uplighters, etc) broadly followed the suite used on adopted roads/footways, or has another approach been taken?

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GM0871 - Tree inspection and frequencies - 031221

A member Council is conducting a review of its Tree Inspection process/frequencies.

They are therefore keen to find out how other local authorities manage this process, comply with legislation/best practice, and determine inspection frequencies.

In addition, they would also be interested to know how do other local authorities capture the data (software/hardware)

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GM0870 - Allotment SLA's and policy documents relating to allotments - 031221

A member authority would be interested to see copies of the SLA’s and any other relevant documents/policies relating to allotments which member authorities may have produced.

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GM0869 - IT Systems for Parks, Waste and other environmental services - 021221

A member authority currently run on two IT systems for their Waste, Parks and Environmental operations.

They would like to know what other Councils are using for the following services/tasks:

• Waste Service scheduling e.g. collection rounds, litter bin emptying, assisted collections, commercial waste services
• Environmental crime investigations/reporting/job scheduling e.g. noise complaints, dog fouling, fly-tipping
• Parks Services such as grass cutting, tree complaint investigations/inspections
• Additional ad-hoc job scheduling

They would be interested to know recommend a system that is able to carry out all of these functions?

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GM0866 - Vehicles used in the delivery of Grounds Maintenance Services - 301121

A member authority looking for information regarding vehicles used in the delivery of Grounds Maintenance services.

They are particularly interested to know:

• Do you use your own internal Fleet Services to carry out vehicle servicing, mot’s and repairs or use an external Contractor for this?
• Does your Fleet services only work daily business hours (8 -5) or do they work a shift pattern to accommodate services, repairs etc throughout the night to reduce the amount of downtime for the vehicle?

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GM0865 - Vehicles used in the delivery of Grounds Maintenance Services - 241121

A member authority is looking for information regarding vehicles used in the delivery of Grounds Maintenance services.

They are particularly interested to know:

• Do you use your own internal Fleet Services to carry out vehicle servicing, MOTs and repairs or use an external Contractor for this?
• Do your Fleet Services only work daily business hours (8 -5) or do they work a shift pattern to accommodate services, repairs etc. throughout the night to reduce the amount of downtime for the vehicle?

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GM0863 – Grounds Maintenance queries – 191121

1. Does your Grounds Maintenance department have SLA’s or similar (service delivery agreements) with other parts of the Authority, or arm’s length organisations, housing associations etc?
   • If so what model is used to develop these? 
   • Could we see some examples if you would be willing to share them? 
2. How does your Grounds Maintenance department track and record work carried out for a third party for compliance and reporting purposes?
   • Any specific software systems (Microsoft or bespoke) used for managing Grounds Maintenance operations?
3. What is the Grounds Maintenance department budget setup; do they operate on a recharge basis or as a budget holder for all Grounds Maintenance in the organisation or do they use other another method?
   • What method is used for internal customer charging is it; at cost or cost plus a small profit?

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GM0862 - Benchmarking grounds maintenance rates - 111121

A member authority is looking to benchmark their grounds maintenance rates that they charge internally through their service level agreements against other Local Authorities.

As a benchmark they currently charge per m2, annually (£/m2/a) for:

• Grass cutting - ride on mower
• Grass cutting – pedestrian mower
• Shrub bed maintenance
• Hedge maintenance
• Hard surface maintenance

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GM0861 - Alternatives to Glyphosate - 111121

A member authority is looking at it current use of herbicides and is interested to know whether:

1. Does your local authority currently use herbicides containing glyphosate?
2. Has your local authority opted to reduce or cease using herbicides containing glyphosate in future?
3. If your local authority has opted to reduce or cease using herbicides containing glyphosate, what herbicides or biocide alternatives are you using instead?
4. Other than mulching, herbicides, biocides, manual and mechanical are there any other weed control methods currently used by your local authority and if so what are these?

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GM0858 – Tendering park licences/ rents received – 291021

A member authority is currently preparing to take several in-park licences out to tender and they are looking to benchmark some of their proposed rents against other Local Authorities.

Currently, they have a major disparity in rent between their ice cream van operators (approx. £6k - £43k) so it would be useful to gauge how much ice cream van operators bring in across other members parks.

In addition, they are asking whether other authorities would be willing to share their rent received from in-park mobile caterers. This is another offer they are looking to increase across their Parks but they have limited examples to compare this to.

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GM0856 - Play areas maintenance costs - 261021

A member authority would be interested in hearing from councils that currently contract the maintenance of the play areas to an outside source/organisation.

• What type of companies do you use?
• What type of contracts do you have?
• What is the cost of such works?

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GM0855 - Garden Assistance Schemes - 251021

A member authority is looking for information around a Garden Assistance Scheme and whether any other member authority offers this type of scheme.

They are particularly interested in the following information:

• What is the Criteria for joining the scheme?
• What is the cost to provide this service? – so number of properties on this scheme and amount paid for this service.
• What is the Service Level Agreement – How many Grass cuts? How many Hedge cuts? Is there a winter pruning agreement?
• How many members of staff deliver this service – both frontline and back office
• If this service was switched off during COVID, how were residents to get their gardens tidies over the suspension period?

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GM0852 - Use of private enforcement agencies for the issuing of fixed penalty notices - 081021  

APSE has received an enquiry from a member authority as to the merit or otherwise of employing a company to carry out enforcement for environmental activities such as litter, fly tipping and dog fouling.

They are aware that a few years ago there were a number of these companies some of who were successful and others who were not.

They are therefore interested to know what successes or other issues there may have been and whether any member authorities could suggest any companies who were used to deliver these services.

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GM0851 - Frequency of herbicide applications on highways - 081021

A member authority is looking into their Highways Weed Control Programme and are interested in other members current arrangements and examples of best practice etc.

In particular, they would be interested to know, what other authorities do in relation to their annual herbicide application frequency on the Highways Weed Control Programme at their respective authority – e.g.. 3 occasions per annum.

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GM0850 -  Height of vehicle height barriers in parks - 290921

A Member Authority has been approached about the height of vehicle height barriers in parks and POS: it appears the de facto standard clearance (2.1mt) is too low for some motor vehicles used by people with disabilities. The Authority have looked at guidance provided by the BSI British Standards Code of Practice for the Design of an accessible and inclusive built environment BS8300-1:2018, which recommend a min of 2.6mt clearance. This would be too high to deter the kind of vehicles the barriers are there for in the first place (eg trade vans).

Therefore, the Member Authority are seeking alternative by the options and are specifically interested in gaining the following information:-

Have other local authorities experience of:

• Using height barriers with 2.6mt clearance (as per BS8300-1:2018)?
• Introducing key-sharing schemes for barriers?
• Introducing a barrier opening procedure that users can activate eg by phone?

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GM0849  – Maintaining grass banks safely – 290921

A member Council has risk assessed all its grass banks individually around 7 years ago, however due to an accidents and a number of near miss incidents they are reviewing these.

They currently use pedestrian rotary mowers, which have a low centre of gravity, twin hybrid tyres, independent wheel throttle, with safety cut out handles.

However, upon investigation, we have noticed that manufacturers no longer tell you in the operator's instructions what gradient you can use a mower on, and are ambiguous in their wording.

They would like to know what machines, methods and control measures are used by other LA’s to maintain grass banks safely?

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GM0848 - Changing grass cutting frequencies to reflect environmental needs such as wildflowers for pollinators - 100921

A member authority is enquiring whether any authorities are adjusting their grass cutting frequencies because of climate change priorities such as carbon reduction, protection pollinators and insects.

Have authorities seen a change in perceptions of the public towards Environmentalism (and away for demands for short grass). In particular if and when grass has become longer without intentional design (for instance due to COVID stopping or reducing work programmes).

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GM0847 - Reviewing a grounds maintenance contract - 100921

A member authority is looking to review its grounds maintenance contract and is looking for information to help this review. The areas that are currently maintained were measured a number of years ago.

This now needs a refresh for a number of reasons

• New sites have been added;
• Sites are now maintained differently (amenity grass areas moved to wildflower area maintenance);
• Amendments to measurements have taken place (e.g. shrub beds changed to grassed areas).

As a result, the Council would like to undertake a fresh measurement audit of its land assets and the works undertaken to maintain them. This will include all operations necessary to produce an accurate specification of works (e.g. grass cutting, hedge and border maintenance areas, associated hard spaces maintenance etc.)

They would therefore like to know

• If any other Councils carried out a similar asset measurement exercise;
• The extent of discrepancy against the previous measurements
• The time is taken to carry out the measurement
• An indication of the cost of the exercise
• Whether it was carried out in-house or through an external company
• Suggested companies that the enquiring authority could contact.

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GM0844 – Establishing Friends of cemetery groups and identifying suitable tasks – 130821

A member authority would like to enquire whether any other cemetery managers would be willing to share their experiences and any information regarding establishing friends of cemeteries groups and identifying suitable volunteer tasks?

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GM0843 – Provision Of Memorials – 130821

A member authority is looking for examples/ information of different types of memorials other than memorial benches, such as sponsoring a tree, sponsoring a litter bin scheme, providing wildlife boxes etc rather than constantly increasing the number of memorial benches.

They would be interested in how members are providing any different or innovative memorials and any policy documents they may have relating to these facilities.

They would also like to hear from any authorities which adopt a no memorial bench or indeed no memorials ( other than headstones) within their cemetery grounds, possibly as a result of ongoing maintenance costs.

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GM0841 – Invasive species management – 100821

A member authority is looking for help regarding invasive species management?

They would be interested to know:

• Have any Councils completed a mapping exercise around invasive species management
• Have any Councils completed policy and/or Action Plan around invasive species management
• Have any Councils secured funding for the management of invasives, if so, what source
• Have any Councils worked with neighbouring Council’s/regionally on invasive species management
• Any relevant up to date information on best control methods

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GM0840 – Managing grass verge site lines and creating pollinator displays – 040821

A member authority is reviewing a number of operational practices across the borough as a result of its Environmental Management strategies being approved.

They would like to know how other authorities manage their verges, specifically how they maintain sightlines and create pollinator displays.

As a result of the review and possible changes to operational practices, they are potentially moving towards two cuts per year in some areas, however, as an authority, they currently ensure Traffic Management is carried out to cut all desired lines, which is costly.

Therefore they wish to know how other authorities manage their desired lines without the cost of TM? i.e have any authorities used a different approach (perhaps cutting in the early hours to avoid TM etc, or changed the sightlines as a long term solution so it is no longer grass).

The enquiring authority would be interested to hear from any authorities who don’t use TM and how they manage the safety of the Operational team and road users.

Also, when creating pollinator displays, do authorities still kill off the grass with glyphosate to create a soil bed, or do they manually remove the turf with additional costs for disposal

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GM0839 – Dog Exercising areas in parks – 040821

A member authority would like to know if any authorities have introduced a free to use dog-exercising area within any of their parks? If so:

1. Did you create an enclosed space for it using fencing or was it left open? If a fence was used, did you have a specific height requirement for it? What type of gate did you use?
2. Did you install dog agility equipment? If so:
   • What supplier did you use?
   • How did you assess the standards of the agility equipment?
   • Do you conduct regular inspections on the equipment? If so what inspection standards do you use?
3. Did you make it accessible to all? If so what measures did you put in place to do this?
4. Did you put any restrictions in place for the area? (E.g. age limit for children, dog capacity, dog vaccination requirements, etc.)
5. Do you find that small businesses use the space? How do you combat this if the area is not designated for business use?
6. What information did you put on the signage for the area?
7. Have you had any other issues with the area?

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GM0837 – Policies for dealing with invasive non-native plants – 151021 

An authority is looking to update its policy on dealing with Invasive Non Native plant species – knotweed, giant hogweed etc. and would be keen to view other policies and strategies from member Local Authorities.

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GM0834 – Firework displays on council land – 050721

A member authority have some members who would like to enforce a total ban on fireworks on council land, however, organised displays have previously helped to reduce anti-social behaviour in some areas of the borough.

The member council would therefore like to hear what approaches other councils take in relation to this matter.

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GM0833 – Eliminating the use of chemicals in herbicides, fungicides and pesticides – 020721

A member authority is designing a project aimed at eliminating the use of chemicals in herbicides, fungicides and pesticides in grounds maintenance activities on the council’s estate.

They are therefore interested in gathering information from others who have done, or are doing, something similar, in particular:

• Did you run trials of non-chemical alternative herbicides and if so which non-chemical alternatives did you trial?
• Are you prepared to share any results from your trials that we could use to compare with our trials (scheduled for Spring 2022)?
• If you are not using chemical-based products, how are you managing weeds in sports pitches?
• If you are not using chemical-based products, how are you managing invasive species?
• What is your view on the effectiveness of non-chemical alternatives to herbicides, fungicides and pesticides?
• If you have stopped using chemical-based products, how has the public reacted?

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GM0832 - Successful parks, greenspace and allotment bids – 020721

A member authority is interested to know details about any successful funding bids councils have made or knowledge of upcoming funds councils can apply for with regards to parks/green spaces, and allotments.

Details of any successful bids made for relevant schemes, regardless of size, would be welcome.

 

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GM0831 – Creating and organising self-managed allotments – 270721

A member authority is interested to hear about creating self-managed allotments. In particular:

• How they have created new sites and management organisations
• Examples of lease agreements, SLAs,
• What information councils ask for from self-managed allotment holders on an annual basis.

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GM0830 – Apps/IT used for the management of allotments, tree, park and play area inspections – 280621

A member authority is interested to hear from any local authorities that are using Apps/ IT for the management of- allotments, tree inspections, park inspections, play area inspections.

They are particularly interested to know:

• Details of the software provider
• The capabilities of the software
• The cost and annual maintenance charges
• What benefits has using the app/IT brought?

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GM0829 – Applying for funding from council allotment budget – 250621

A member authority has a budget of just under £10,000 for allotments and has decided to allow allotments with a lease with the council to apply for this funding.

The inquiring authority is thinking of a simple application process and form for small grant amounts that are possibly match funded.

They are looking for any suggestions or experiences in this approach.

To help the process they also wish to know how much do allotments charge for plots - per m2 or per plot and what is included e.g. Is water included, insurance etc?

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GM0828 – Calculating the monetary value of the council's tree stock – 250621

A member authority is interested to know if any council has ever calculated the monetary value of its tree assets and if so,

• How did they do it?
• What was the calculation used?
• What was the final value – total tree stock / per tree.

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GM0825 – Concrete table tennis tables in parks – 180621

A member authority is interested to know if any other local authority has ever installed a concrete table tennis facility in a public park, and if so:

• What were the usage levels,
• Did you link it in with a local table tennis club?

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GM0824 – Specifying peat-free growing media – 180621

A member authority is interested in hearing from Local Authorities who have moved to or are considering a move towards using/specifying peat-free growing media in both their own ‘in-house’ plant production (if any) and for ‘bought-in’ containerised plants, shrubs and trees.

It would be appreciated if you could share your general findings in relation to the move to peat-free composts and any advantages/disadvantages that you may have found with this especially in relation to the quality of the actual plant material itself.

Any views or further information would be most welcome