Agenda item

To receive the presentation

The committee noted the verbal update

Sarah Dowden – Service Director Regulatory and Operations shared the presentation.  Sarah highlighted:

-       The open spaces which Regs and Ops team have responsibility for – Play areas, Parks, Playing fields, Grass in and around HRA sites, Tree maintenance, Grass areas within our buildings and hubs.

-       Devolution by areas:

·         Wellington: All open spaces, grounds maintenance, and play areas to be devolved.

·         Taunton: 11 parks to be devolved on 1st April.

·         Bridgwater: All grounds maintenance, open spaces, play areas, and street cleansing have been devolved.

·         Wells: All open spaces, grounds maintenance, and play areas to be devolved on 1st June 2025.

·         Glastonbury: 40% of open spaces and all play areas to be devolved on 1st June.

·         Frome: 40% of open spaces and all play areas to be devolved on 1st June

·         Yeovil: Key decision on open spaces expected by end of March, aiming for devolution on 1st June.

·         Minehead: All open spaces, grounds maintenance, and play areas to be devolved.

-       Total savings through Devolution since vesting day = £1.3m, approximately 25 staff or posts have been transferred.  

-       Impact from Devolution since Vesting –transferring responsibilities for Play areas, community spaces, street cleansing, toilets, grounds and tree maintenance, fly tip collection to Parish Town and City Councils.

-       Next steps – Continue with the next phase of devolution and assess the impact on services, bring consistency across Somerset by aligning grass schedules, tree work, and cleansing, and make this information available online.  Make assumptions about the next phase of devolution, likely excluding cleansing and being smaller in scope.  Evaluate depot usage, reach, and impact.  Strengthen services in open spaces. Insourcing the former Mendip District Council area from June 2025.

During the discussion, the following points were raised and responded to: -

Decisions on prioritised areas were based on optimising spaces where staff are based. Operating out of Glastonbury allows resources to be more effectively distributed across the County.

A copy of the updated slides requested was shared with the committee following the meeting. There was also a request for a map showing responsibilities for individual Members’ divisions.

Sarah confirmed that the service is experiencing an increasing workload. Teams have been able to work flexibly to manage this, and where staff have left to join parish councils, recruitment is underway to cover the extra workload. The transition to a unitary authority has resulted in some loss of local knowledge, and adjustments are ongoing.

The team is collaborating well with parishes and Town councils, ensuring that areas of work not taken on by the team are still maintained. Members inquired about tree responsibilities, which are managed by a mix of in-house teams, surveyors, and inspection teams, with external contractors handling some tasks. Efforts are ongoing to consolidate different systems for reporting tree inspections into a single system. Members were informed about an online form for reporting tree issues, depending on whether they are on highways or open spaces.

The team continues to oversee fly-tipping, even as responsibilities are devolved, to ensure proper management. Parish/town councils will handle fly-tipping on land acquired through the devolution programme but will not address fly-tipping on private or HRA land.

Members requested further organisation training/briefing on how Members can use the Council’s various online systems to log issues.

At her final meeting, Jennie Murphy was thanked by the Chair for her support for the committee during the past 18 months.