Bringing Hastings groundskeeping back in house backed

On Monday (October 3), Hastings Borough Council’s cabinet gave its formal backing to proposals to directly employ grounds maintenance crews from November next year, rather than renewing a contract with external contractors.

A final decision on the proposals will require a full council vote before being approved, but cabinet members argued the new model would make the service both flexible and more affordable.

Julia Hilton (Green), the council’s cabinet member for climate change and natural environment, said: “If this [proposal] is approved officers will be using the year ahead to completely rethink how we approach looking after our green spaces to make the best use of limited staff time as well as looking at the bigger picture of how we work with all our third-sector partners

“It is a challenging but exciting opportunity that I know our excellent parks team is keen to make a success.”

While no decision has been made on what the future service would look like, an indicative model included in council papers would see less regular mowing and a move to sustainable planting instead of floral bedding. These changes, together with a move away from using herbicides for weed control, were described as being more ‘nature friendly’ by Cllr Hilton.

According to the council, work done to look at potentially extending the current contract has shown that costs have risen dramatically to levels that are unaffordable for the council.

Cabinet members also heard how an in-house service would allow the council to make greater use of community support and to work with organisations such as Groundwork and Plumpton College on skills training.

Labour council leader Paul Barnett said: “I think managing it in-house will actually make it much easier for not just organisations but individuals to find ways of actually getting involved in the life of their green open spaces. I think in turn that will really support our drive to improve the town’s health.”

A final decision on the proposals is set to go to a full council vote next week.