Grounds Maintenance Task Group Scrutiny Review

Comparison Data – Harrogate & Selby

	Harrogate	Selby
Parks & Grounds Staffing	5 grass teams totalling 22 staff (4 / 5 per team). 40% of the grass areas cut are for Housing = approx. 9 FTE	3 teams totalling 8 staff  (2 / 3 per team) Approx. 70% of the grass areas cut are for Housing = approx. 5.5 FTE
Kit per Team	1 x Transit, 1 x Trailer, 1 x Ride on, 2 x mowers, 2 x strimmers, 2 x blowers.  Approximate value per team = c £98K	1 x Transit, 1 x Trailer, 1 x Ride on, 2 x strimmers, 2 x  blowers.  Plus 1 x shared mower/stand on. Approximate value per team = c £98K
Grass Cutting	284,000m^2 open plan areas 43 locations - including 4 towns and 39 villages 9 cuts in 2024 (depends on season) Grass cut approximately every 2-3 weeks - cut and drop Bulb areas cut anytime from July onwards	Roughly 508,000m^2 open plan areas 46 locations - including 3 Towns and 43 villages 6 cuts 2024 (depends on season) Grass cut approximately every 4 weeks - cut and drop Bulb areas cut anytime from July onwards
Hedges	Only cut in winter Bird nesting season from March to Sept – hedges are only cut during this time for health and safety reasons 14 miles in total (Housing properties /sites) It takes 20 staff x 8 weeks to cut	Only cut in winter Bird nesting season from March to Sept – hedges are only cut during this time for health and safety reasons 4.8 miles.  Current maps are out of date.  Hedges to be remeasured as a wet day project. 2 Teams – unsure of length of time to cut
Assisted Garden Maintenance	Circa 527 properties maintained by P&G in Harrogate area in 2025 to date, using the same maintenance regime as for the open plan areas.  P&G are informed by Housing Officers when to add/remove an address. The 527 include void properties, properties being refurbished and the properties of residents requiring assistance.  P&R do not keep a record of the number per category.	Service not provided in Selby
Service Requests for one off works	One off works throughout the year in response to Housing requests e.g. bench maintenance, refilling of grit bins, hedge reductions/garden clearances etc. It depends on the size of job whether an extra fee is charged over the SLA. For those works recharged, P&G provide a quote, the cost is agreed, works are completed, and a journal is raised.	One off works undertaken throughout the year in response to Housing requests e.g. clearance of overgrown back gardens/void properties. Treatment of Japanese Knotweed. Cutting back overgrown hedges/shrubs blocking access to ginnels, spraying weeds in ginnels/paved areas (not covered by highways), communal areas, and drying areas. Bench maintenance and refilling of grit bins An extra fee is charged over the SLA – cost based on the labour and materials required.
Ginnels	Clearance of ginnels - the number varies but in the region of 20 per year. Depends on the size of job whether an extra fee is charged over the SLA.	Not included in SLA.  Work undertaken in response to a service request.  No data available on approx. No. per year.
Winter Gritting	Ice and snow treatments on paths leading to house doors/housing areas - sites prioritised High/Medium/Low, as determined by Housing.	Not included in SLA.
Tree Management	Includes surveying/maintenance/tree planting.  Every tree on Housing land is included in the SLA. If a tree is not on Housing land then it is classed as another customer i.e. Parks. A full assessment has recently been completed.	Tree management not requested by SDC – tree assessment required.
Complaints	Received via Housing e.g. damage to plant pots/clothes driers/garden furniture/plants.	Issues with tenants’ garden plant pots/furniture being placed on grass areas can cause complaints if staff accidently damage them.
No. of housing stock properties	3977	3029
Cost to HRA for current SLA	£591,800	£143,605
Cost to HRA per property	£148.80	£47.41
Comments from P&G locality managers		We need to start from scratch with the areas that Housing want us to maintain and provide a cost for. It is quite hard to work out exact numbers of what is done for housing and what is for highways or POS due to the age of the maps with the information on - it is all amalgamated in to one so splitting it with square meterage is impossible without remeasuring each area.

Locality Manager Feedback on Richmondshire Area:

· No. of housing stock properties - 1461

· Cost to HRA for current SLA - £42,400 (approx.. £29.02 per property)

· Similar standard as Harrogate.  The main difference is in regard to trees, shrubs and bulbs etc.  The Housing estates/areas are not as green and the volume of work is less, which may account for the lower sum paid for the SLA.

· No gritting works are included in SLA – this can add quite a bit to the costs as it is a staff and grit heavy task.

· Anecdotally, it is thought that in the legacy days, as Richmond was a fairly small borough, the Parks & Grounds team subsidised a lot of work for other services, and ‘just got on with the job’.