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.

 

Are Continental Landscapes up to the job of looking after Brent's parks, estates and grass verges?

'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

 St Andrew's Road, Kingsbury

 

Salmon Street, Kingsbury (Between Fryent Way and Slough Lane)

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

 

Lots of Fat Hen in this patch

 

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