Despite a difficult first year Brent Council concludes that Continental Landscapes are up to the job. Will Scrutiny Commitee agree?

My article on Monday LINK asked if Continental Landscapes were up to the job of looking after Brent's parks, open spaces, estates and grass verges. The officers' report to be discussed at the Scrutiny Meeting on September 4th concludes that despite a difficult first year that they are up to the job:

The challenges of the first year have been recognised and acknowledged by the Council and the contractor. These were mainly related to the adverse weather, challenges with electric equipment and the usual (and expected) challenges in implementing a new contract and a new contractor. Nevertheless, Continental have been quick to work with us and resolve issues and to identify positive solutions. The work that is being undertaken by the teams is of high quality and a good standard and is meeting the requirements of the contract.

 

There is a very strong partnership ethos between the Council and Continental and when issues have been experienced, both have worked together to develop a practical, deliverable solution. The Parks Service and Housing Service have developed a much closer working relationship throughout this first year and the shared experiences with all parties this year have made that relationship stronger and better able to deliver a comprehensive, quality service for the next seven years.

 

Many of the difficulties are attributed to bad weather and the failure of electrical tools to cope adequately with the resulting heavy work and IT issues affecting completion of the work schedule. There is only a brief reference to staffing difficulties  that Scrutiny members are expected to investigate further. The monitoring of the contract is seen as a success.

These are some of the key points in the report and I embed the full report at the end of this article:

Whilst the contract mobilised in August (and there were a few weeks of grass cutting across parks and housing sites by the start of October) the weather worsened and by November there was frequent heavy rain. The contractor was able to cut and collect all wildflower meadows, verges and roundabouts and continue to work on general maintenance. But by January, there were three consecutive high-pressure storms, which led to the water table being so high that the ground was completely saturated and many areas were flooded. Verge cutting was attempted in line with the intended schedule in March, but the heavy machinery was causing more damage to the verges and it was not physically possible to mow the grass. A delayed start to verge cutting was agreed with officers. As the weather got warmer and the rain continued, grass grew at a rapid speed and grass cutting across all aspects of the contract were adversely impacted by the weather and some issues with electric machinery.

 

The ‘perfect storm’ of conditions ensued from early 2024, which impacted service delivery in the first year. When grass cutting on verges and housing estates commenced, the electric machinery struggled to cope with longer wet grass. The actual battery run times were proving to be shorter than expected, as the much longer grass, which was also still wet, put additional strain on batteries which would last 1.5 hours compared to 4 or 5 hours. This led to less grass being cut in a day than expected. Whilst additional batteries were provided, the duration was still far short of the expected run time. This meant that verges and estates would be half completed, and the team would move onto the next location trying not to fall behind the schedule. The visual aspect of this led to complaints and teams having to return to cut areas, again delaying the cuts for other sites, which led to additional complaints. There were also some staffing issues which further compounded the issue although Continental worked quickly to seek additional staff.

 

Continental Landscapes advised that they were in discussion with the manufacturers of the electric equipment, to work with them to find a long-term solution to avoid a repeat of the issues in future years. They also arranged for the delivery of replacement mowers and handheld tools that would run on an environmentally friendly fuel (Aspen) which produces 99% less emissions than fossil fuels. This machinery was implemented mid-July and allowed for a faster catch up on the backlog of work.

 

On occasion, some litter was missed and a small number of enquiries were received about shredded litter on verges after a cut. When these reports were received, such as in Harrowdene Road, officers raised it with the contractor and an inspection carried out. The issue was not highlighted again in any successive verge cut, showing that concerns were taken seriously by the contractor and raised with the team on the ground

 

Parks did not fare as badly during this time as the grass in these sites can be cut by tractors; however, there were still times during June where tractors were getting stuck because the ground had not dried out sufficiently in certain locations within parks such as Roe Green and One Tree Hill.