Committee: | Community Planning Committee |
Date: | 11th June 2024 |
Report Author: | Chris Turvey - Community Planning Officer |
Report Title: | RTC Grounds Maintenance and planting contracts and future arrangements. |
Context: | The new Community Planning Committee are charged with the management of all Public Realm elements in Ryde. Going forward the Development Strategy subcommittee will consider proposals for Public Realm projects and recommend as appropriate to the Community Planning Committee for a decision. This committee is accepting this report as the Development Strategy subcommittee has yet to meet and some elements of this report may need an urgent decision. |
Historically, Ryde Town Council have paid into the Isle of Wight Council’s grounds maintenance for various elements along the Ryde Esplanade. In addition, RTC pays into the beach cleaning carried out by the IWC.
As a result of the new Transport Interchange, new raised flower beds have been formed. These will need to be planted out and maintained, contracts have been transferred to IWC and the planting and maintenance of these will form part of the ongoing negotiations.
RTC have been offered help from various voluntary groups and as grounds maintenance contracts expire, we will be looking to utilise these groups primarily to improve the planting but also to save costs.
There are areas of planting around Ryde which are planted and maintained by various contractors for RTC. These contracts come up for renewal in April 2025. At that time RTC will have to consider how we wish to continue these contracts. They can be serviced either through our existing tendering and procurement processes or using volunteers with plant material acquired by RTC.
The existing IWC grounds maintenance contracts which RTC pays into includes grass cutting of Eastern and Western gardens and other areas in Ryde. The watering contracts that existed until last year have been brought in house and are carried out by our facilities team.
The table below shows the value of the grounds maintenance and planting contracts, the dates that they are contracted to and who is responsible for delivery.
Contract | Contractor | Start | Finish | Cost to RTC |
Beach Cleaning | Brightstone Landscaping Ltd | June 2021 | May 2025 | £31,000 |
Contractor Planting | IGM Haylands Farm | 1st May 2024 1st May 2023 | 30th April 2025 30th April 2025 | £6,730 £3,826 |
IWC Planting and Watering | Various | 1st May 2023 | 30th April 2024 | £29,850 |
IWC Grounds Maintenance | Various | 1st May 2023 | 30th April 2024 | £15,986 |
The IGM contract includes the following:
The Haylands Farm contract includes the following:
The Isle of Wight Council contracts include the following elements with their costs: Planting and watering.
APPLEY PARK | £7,400 |
ASHLEY GARDENS | £200 |
BUS STATION | 0 |
CANOE LAKE | £3,800 |
DOVER STREET | £250 |
EASTERN GARDENS | £3,600 |
LA BOWL | £6,700 |
PIER CAFÉ (now apron) | £4,000 |
QUAY ROAD | £1,600 |
ROAD CENTRE | £550 |
ROSE GARDEN | £700 |
ROYAL GEORGE | £150 |
UNION STREET TRAFIC IS | £700 |
WESTERN GARDENS | £200 |
£29,850 | |
Grounds Maintenance
SIMEON RECREATION GROUND | £4,662 |
ST THOMAS' REST GARDEN | £2,863 |
OAKWOOD RECREATION GROUND | £1,538 |
BINSTEAD REST GARDENS | £2,137 |
EASTERN GARDENS | £3,778 |
CORONATION GARDENS | £555 |
BINSTEAD WAR MEMORIAL | £112 |
FIVE WAYS SHELTER | £64 |
OAKFIELD PLAYING FIELD | £96 |
ST THOMAS' SQUARE, RYDE | £17 |
BINSTEAD REC | £160 |
WEST STREET FOUNTAIN | £4 |
£15,986 | |
There could be substantial savings from volunteer work on the grounds maintenance contract should RTC consider utilizing volunteers for the planting contracts. It should, however, be noted that, by the very nature of volunteering there would be no contract or hard commitment ensuring that the work, as required, is carried out. The enthusiasm could wane and volunteers could fall by the wayside.
RTC should consider utilising volunteers in a targeted way on projects that they can own and take singular pride in. This could be a particular large prominent flower bed or display or a small garden area.
This would mean that, although the financial benefits may be less than using volunteers extensively, the volunteer projects would raise the bar in quality terms and maybe inspire the contractors to deliver to a higher standard.
The grounds maintenance contracts include elements such as mowing etc which cannot be carried out by volunteers so this part of the contract should continue as is.
Continue with the existing contracts and the payment structure.
Finish the existing contracts and take over the planting and watering in house going forward utilising employees and volunteers as required.
Revise the existing planting contracts to allow for some elements to be carried out by IWC as previously and some elements to be handled by volunteers.
Officer recommendation