South Kesteven District Councillors are being asked to support a recommendation to take its grounds maintenance service in-house. Based on an amended grounds maintenance specification, which the Council says will still deliver high levels of service, this move is set to deliver savings of more than £350,000.
Further savings are anticipated through a re-working of the work specification, which the Council says will also assure high levels of service.
The provision of a high-quality grounds maintenance services meets several key priorities for SKDC, identified in its Corporate Plan: effectively managing finances and assets, providing a clean and sustainable environment and ensuring the district is a clean and pleasant place to live in and visit.
A review of the service – where a range of options was considered – has resulted in the recommendation to the Joint Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Rural and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee to start the process of insourcing the Council’s grounds maintenance service.
This would then go for debate and a final decision from Cabinet.
Affected staff would be consulted under TUPE guidelines and the new service would operate from March 2023.
A report to the Extraordinary committee meeting next Tuesday said: “South Kesteven covers 365 square miles, the Council being responsible for the grounds maintenance of all Council-owned land including General Fund and Housing Revenue Account land as well as closed churchyards, sports pitches, and grass verges in Grantham on behalf of Lincolnshire County Council.
“The total amount of land currently maintained across the district equates to 1.5 million square metres. For financial year 2022/23 the projected total cost to the Council is £1.016m, this being split £428,000 Housing Revenue Account and £588,000 General Fund.
“Since 1 March 2019, the Council’s grounds maintenance service has been provided by EnvironmentSK Ltd, a wholly owned Council company. Prior to this the Council had a contract with Glendale Ltd, which commenced in 2014 and ended in 2019.
Chief Finance Officer Richard Wyles’ report added: “In addition to avoiding a cost pressure by amending the grounds maintenance specification, a saving of circa £352,000 can be achieved in 2023/24 by insourcing the grounds maintenance service and integrating this with Street Scene and the Big Clean team. If approved these savings will offset some of the Council’s other budgetary pressures.
“Once a full integration of the two services has been completed, further opportunities should be explored to realise further cost savings or generate additional income in future years.”
It is anticipated that wider integration with Street Scene and the Big Clean team will result in reduced use of vehicles and mileage to reduce the Council’s carbon footprint.
The Committee is asked to:
Recommend to Cabinet that the proposed changes to the grounds maintenance specification are adopted.
Recommend to Cabinet that be from 1 March 2023, following TUPE consultation with the existing employees of EnvironmentSK Ltd, that the report considered by Cabinet includes an Equality Impact Assessment.
Further recommend to Cabinet that once insourced the Council’s grounds maintenance service should be integrated with Street Scene and the Big Clean team, as soon as possible during 2023.
Recommend that a report is presented to Companies Committee at the earliest opportunity to consider the implications of dissolving the Council’s wholly-owned company, EnvironmentSK Ltd.
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