Stockport Council's consultation on Parks, Street Cleaning and Highway Verge Maintenance closes on 11 January 2019Please ensure you have your say before this deadline, via this link:
https://consultation.stockport.gov.uk/policy-performance-and-reform/stockport-street-cleaning-park-and-highway-verge-m/There are only 2 main questions to the survey. Here are my personal responses, which I've structured around the bullet points of the proposals.
I hope that sharing these may inspire other to respond in a similar vein but whatever your views, you should make them known:
Q - What impact would it have on you if these proposals were implemented? As a key member of Friends of Marple Memorial Park these proposals are alarming. The council is at grave risk of alienating and loosing the support of groups like Friends of Marple Memorial Park if they make further changes to our parks maintenance without detailed consultation with these groups as key stakeholders. The impact of previous cuts to park maintenance budgets have largely been kept at bay by the increased efforts of volunteers rising to the challenge of filling the gaps left by previous cuts. If Friends Groups were to cease their activities out of frustration at further cuts because they were not consulted properly then the impact on the park would be devastating. All the cuts previously made and mitigated by volunteers would become apparent in a very short timespan.
Grass verges on highways would be mowed less often: The regime adopted this year left the verges around Marple in a total mess and I don't see how it can get much worse by not doing them at all – the verges looked scruffy when uncut but a complete disaster when they were. Is there a way that a plan to plant larger verges as wildlife meadows and progressively remove all smaller grass verges completely could be instigated to save money in the long term?
The frequency of street cleansing rounds would be reduced: I would like to see Street Cleansing focused mostly on the Marple District Centre and the park and would not wish to see the removal of bins or the reduction of them being emptied as they are often overflowing already. I think it would be worthwhile to support more volunteer litter-picking in the town and also to make much more use of community payback.
The number of litter bins would be reduced across the borough, both on the streets and possibly within parks: I do not want to see this happen in Marple and especially not in Marple Memorial Park. It is not long since bins in the park were upgraded and new ones installed with consultation and agreement of Friends of the Park. The bins are regularly full and their removal would lead to a significant increase in littering problems. Friends of the Park and other regular visitors often pick litter and credit needs to be given for this and volunteers supported more. It is crucial for safety that park attendants check the skatepark area each day for broken glass as this is a regular problem, especially on Saturday and Sunday mornings.
Many smaller play areas will be modified over time to reduce the demand on maintenance costs by increased use of natural play equipment: I understand this and accept it to a degree in smaller parks but Marple Memorial Park is a destination park for families with children and the council needs to carry on working closely with Friends of Memorial Park to continue the improvements that we have achieved together over many years. We wish to continue striving to improve the play areas in the park and have long-term ideas for creating a better larger play area that amalgamates the existing Infant and Junior facilities into one. We also consider it essential that the play areas remain protected by fencing due to the disgusting high level of dog fouling in Memorial Park – we cannot allow this fouling to happen where our young children play.
Grass mowing in all greenspaces, except sports pitches and play areas, would be reduced. There would be longer grass for longer periods. It is anticipated that several areas will become space for wild meadows: Friends of the Park are generally satisfied with the current grass cutting regime in the park, although we believe that some of the machines need to be better maintained as the grass done using the triple machines are often not cut properly. If further reduction in grass cutting is to be made then we would not wish this to effect the mowing of the grass around the flowerbeds and formal areas. The attendants do a good job with these and when coordinated with the activities of our volunteers, who do the edging, the results are still very good. We would not wish this to deteriorate and would be pleased to meet with the council and TLC to discuss how savings may be made without impacting the appearance and upkeep of the park. We would also be happy to discuss which areas of the park may be suitable for additional wild meadows.
All aspects of park maintenance such as pruning shrubs and hedge cutting would be reduced: Apart from the hedge around the Bowling Green and the perimeter of the park most pruning of hedges, shrubs and shrub beds is done by Friends of the Park already. We have also adopted all the flowerbeds in the park, preventing them from being grassed over since 2011, and have been hugely successful in maintaining these and the War Memorial beds, plus numerous other small beds within the park. We have taken over maintenance of all the benches in the park too, enabling the refurbishment, adoption and replacement and installation of new benches all at no cost to the council. Our volunteers have saved huge expense to the council with these initiatives whilst contributing significantly to the improved standard of maintenance of the whole park. We have also directly raised over £113,000 for maintenance and improvements to the park and been instrumental in the investment of many more thousands of pounds from grants and other sources. We therefore feel that we should be considered key stakeholders and directly consulted over any detailed proposals for additional savings to be made by further cuts to the council's commitment and effort to maintain Memorial Park.
Greenspace – a reduction in greenspace activity will result in a deterioration in the quality of the finish in parks and verges across the borough. It could also mean that an increase in the amount of land converted from lawned to natural habitat, a reduction in the number of bowling greens, litter bins across the park, removal of all horticultural beds etc. and reduced time spent with voluntary groups: The council has already removed from their responsibility and cost the maintenance of all horticultural beds in Memorial Park and this is now done by volunteers, so there are no more savings to be made on this but much to loose by alienating volunteer groups while trying to do so. The Bowling Green is extensively used and has recently had considerable investment by the council to enclose it in fencing and from Friends of the Park and Marple Area Committee to protect it from vandalism. These initiatives have been very successful and it would be counter-productive and wasteful to remove the Bowling Green from Memorial Park. It is not clear what is meant by reducing time spent with voluntary groups. TLC and SSK before them never spent any time with our volunteer group during our task days. They have provided training in the past, but not for several years. Apart from emptying the green waste area for us and coordinating efforts at Remembrance time it is not clear what could possibly be subjected to further cuts in terms of time spent with volunteers. We do receive limited but very welcome support from stretched Greenspace Officers. If the level of support from these Officers is to be reduced further, or withdrawn, it is likely that it will lead to the demise of the Friends Group and the consequent loss of significant volunteer hours being invested in the park. This will result in a rapid decline of existing maintenance standards currently achieved with the help of Friends of the Park. Please consult with us in detail before actioning further cuts.
Q - Do you have any alternative suggestions for reducing the budget within street cleaning and maintenance of parks and highway verges?Treat volunteers as key stakeholders and discuss detailed strategies with them for making further savings in parks. Make greater use of Community Payback Teams. Encourage volunteer litter-picking. Do not reduce time spent with volunteer groups but support, encourage and train them to work more productively with Greenspace Project Officers and TLC. Talk to these groups and don't take them for granted or you will loose them.
Remove small grass verges and replace larger grass verges with wildlife meadows.
