'Are Continental Landscapes up to the job?' is the question that the Resources and Public Realm Scrutiny Committee should be asking at their meeting on September 4th.
Continental Landscapes took over the contract for the maintenance of Brent's parks and open spaces, grass verges, sports grounds and council estate grounds from Veoloa. The contract is worth £17.6m over eight years.
The Scrutiny review is of the first year of operation.
From comments and complaints reaching Wembley Matters things are not looking good. I understand that Continental is about 50% under-staffed with lower wages blamed for failure of Veolia staff to transfer and general recruitment problems.
This of course raises issues around procurement and the pricing of the contract as well as its design. The company appear not to have realised the sheer size of the maintenance task with particular issues around the acres of grass verges and small green spaces, particularly in the north of the borough as well as common areas on council estates.
On the Kings Drive/Pilgrims Way Estate cut grass was left to turn into hay and the path between Saltcroft Close and Summers Close became overgrown and almost disappeared in places. After a complaint the cut grass was cleared from the path and the problem attributed to the rapid vegetation growth in the very wet Spring. Tall wet grass was more difficult to cut. My suggestion that perhaps the electric tools that Continental had introduced could not cope was rejected.
Residents who supported the concept of 'No Mow May', letting wild flowers grow to encourage bio-diversity, became perplexed when it turned into 'No Mow' June, July and August.
Is this really environmental care, cost-cutting, or just 'Can't Cope Continental'?
Undoubtedly, the close mown verges of the 1950s were pretty sterile and typical of a suburban obsession with neatness, but residents point to the messiness of some streets this year. Not many shared my excitement at some of the less common wild flowers that emerged. A particular issue is that litter, strewn across the verges and hidden in the tall grass, gets cut up into tiny pieces when the grass is evetually cut.
Sudbury
Church Lane, Kingsbury
Jaine Lunn has raised the issue of wild flower meadows and bee corridors in our parks that have not been maintained. Neglected they turn into fields where rampant thistles or stinging nettles dominate. They need preparation and sowing as part of the maintenance process.
However, it is not always apparent what has been sown or just left to grow unhindered. The stretch of Salmon Street in Kingsbury, between Salmon Street and The Paddocks roundabout is an interesting case.
The pedestrian path there on the Wembley side has recently been replaced with tarmac and cross-overs paved with brick (some of the large houses have two cross-overs). Equipment and materials were stored on the verges and new top soil brought in to remediate damage.
It is not clear whether the top soil contained all sorts of seeds or whether they were deliberately sown, but the result is pretty wild, and quite different from the previous grass verges:
Salmon Street poppies (since turned to seed and seed pods snipped off for culinary or medicinal purposes)
Sweet corn and tomato plants spotted here
The officers' report for the Scrutiny Meeting will be published tomorrow and should make interesting reading. Readers may wish to make representations to the Committee in writing or in person and should write in the first instance to James Kinsella, Governance& Scrutiny Manager Tel: 020 8937 2063 Email: james.kinsella@brent.gov.uk
15 comments:
The problem in parks is litter. After rthe weekends, revellers and picnicers often collect their rubbish in black plastic bags,which they deposit next to bins. The bins are often full. In the night,numerous foxes tear up the plastic bags and food waste and litter is spread and/ or blown all over the park. When people have suggested that the bins need to be much bigger,the company has replied that it can't afford them.
Neglect, Neglect and more Neglect seems to be the policy of this Labour run Council. No sign of Leader Butt and his side kick Councillor Krupa Sheth in any of these photos. Labour Councillors on Scrutiny will no doubt blame the Contractors (and the Conservative Government of course) BUT the fault lies in the original Contract specification and failure to properly supervise the work being done (or rather NOT being done!). What is clear is that the Political Leadership of Brent Council are totally out of their depth and NONE of the senior officers of Brent Council care as they do not live here and do not see the mounting neglect on a daily basis as local people have to. Oh and when is the next Council Tax Rise - for services we are NOT getting?
Agreed Scrutiny need to take up the lack of retention and recruitment with lower wages overall.
Paths covered in mown grass that will become a hazard if wet or if very dry - this is unacceptable.
Managing the annual seeding wildflower meadows is an art and takes manpower and plenty of extra seeds sewn by human intervention. Otherwise the stronger grasses will take over, which is self evident in Brent's meadows, after they are left to themselves.
A few points:
1. Brent is now a non herbicide and pesticide borough so like Brighton - it will not look so 'tidy'
2. Brent does have long grass managed meadows - and hay harvesting.
3. Key asks from some groups: Locations for the transects: Under trees in rec grounds and parks - Other groups across the south of the borough and including those with links to the London based conservation volunteers 'TCV' organisation, have asked for No Mow May to be extended to fully allow wildlife to take advantage of the shelter areas again this does not look neat.
A review of Continental is in order though. 12 months should be about enough time to settle them in. Good timing with Scrutiny in what will be their 12th month.
Will be writing in to Cllr Kinsella with key points.
Re funding also raised by Jaine (King Edward IIV): Groups are asking for Brent to fundraise in collaboration with each group - those that are Charities cannot afford to handle funds over 30K and have to run audits costing them funds. They'd rather Brent work with them to decide what needs doing and then to apply for funding streams that go direct to Brent. That could go 2 ways - it gets mismanaged or everyone gets more support. Groups hope for the latter. King Edward IIV does need some care - now. They need some new benches, and they have some ideas for items that can go in to the park which could work well. Toilets with cafe is long overdue there - a key location. Some boroughs do have water fountains - but this does have risks attached, especially to elderly and young who can easily pick up viruses and bacteria that can colonise the taps with regular usage.
Thank you for this push - the photos and locations are indicative of many sites across Brent right now, though less sterile verges are welcome .this does have its drawbacks re strewn plastic, cans and bottles - a return deposit scheme campaigned for by CPRE London - needs to be taken up by Gov. this might considerably slow down the volume of dropped bottles.
Note: James Kinsella is a Brent Council officer not a councillor.
Nothing wrong with thistles or stinging nettles. Make tea
Edits: King Edward VII typed twice. We will be emailing Cllrs for the Environment and Officer Kinsella.
Why can't people take their rubbish home with them and put it in their own bins at home???
Why are 'Brent Parks Forum' only showing interest now??? Our parks here have been neglected for years.
Cut grass just being left on verges is a problem. It blows onto the paths and roads and settles over drains, which become blocked. Leaves falling from trees do the same thing, as the streets aren't swept any more. In heavy rain the drains can't cope, as they are full up of leaves and mud. Flooding is therefore much more likely.
Litter is surely more likely to block drains?
If residents are lucky enough to live near grass verges why don't they help by picking up litter - we are all responsible for our neighbourhoods.
Forums are formed by volunteers, started in a small area to learn how we might expand going forwards. We expanded just a year before lockdown to start to work with groups across Brent - We had tried to reach out to King Edward VII Park - without any email contacts or phone numbers for them. The group had already formed and they were very self sufficient. Then it went quiet - and no contact details for us to make contact. We then managed to make contact to an active person at King Edward VII - though a colleague. That is the timeline. We have been actively reporting issues to Brent Parks and giving enough time for them to settle in Continental. We are all volunteer parks residents - not a gov body.
Exactly so - sweeping streets of leaves and not leaving copious amounts of grass on verges is essential. This used to be under streets now Parks manage the verges.
King Edward's Park can't be in that bad a condition if they are holding the huge Mela there at the weekend!
To date I have not seen anyone from Continental Landscapes tend anything in King Eddies apart from paint Football pitches. The once beautiful Flower beds that were replaced with Perennial plants and shrubs are in an awful state, full of weeds with no definition of borders etc. No replacement trees have been planted, rubbish bins left full for days on end. If Scrutiny are looking at the contract does it mean that if they find it's not being fulfilled as to what was agreed will they then terminate and look for someone else?
Continental Landscapes other London Boroughs are:-
City of Westminster since 2000.
London Borough of Richmond upon Thames
Wandsworth Borough Council
Just wonder if they are fulfilling their contracts? or do their Parks and verges look like Brent?
It has been mentioned that Continental are understaffed and paying low wages, as an excuse.
However, Brent has been claiming they pay the London Living Wage of £13.15 per hour and that they support all companies they deal with to do the same, or is this not the case?
Continental Landscapes complies with the National Living Wage regulations in the UK1. The average hourly pay at Continental Landscapes varies by role, with some examples being:
Cleaner: £11.33 per hour
Sweeper: £12.49 per hour
Truck Driver: £15.48 per hour
Arborist: £16.00 per hour
So it must be the 'overtime' - Bank Holiday pay...
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