Lib Dem proposal to protect parks and services

September 27, 2011 Iain Roberts 3 Comments

One of the key parts of the Liberal Democrat budget proposals for next year is something called the “Public Realm review”.

Stockport Council has to make savings of £13.5 million in the year 2012/13. We’ve got a proposal to merge road repairs, litter clearing and parks maintenance so that it will save over £750,000 without reducing the service.

That last bit is important – we are not proposing a reduction in service. By taking three separate teams and merging them into one, and by implementing a few other measures, we can save the money and maintain the services we currently offer.

In addition to merging three services, the savings are made up from some other measures, including:

advances in waste disposal mean there’s no need for expensive treatment of dog waste, so bagged dog-mess can go in normal bins, as Keep Britain Tidy recommends. Not treating dog mess specially saves around £40,000.
sharing machinery more effectively saves around £50,000.
not automatically replacing damaged street furniture, but removing it if it’s no longer needed is estimated to save around £40,000.

We’re proud of this. The Public Realm review is a big challenge for the Council – it isn’t anything that any other party has proposed. We’re especially proud that this protects our fantastic parks and green spaces, many of which have Green Flag or Green Pennant awards – long may it last!

These proposals are currently being consulted on as part of the Lib Dem budget proposals, so we’re happy to take any suggestions and answer any questions about them.

council, environment, streets

3 Comments

Estelle Weiner

Sunday 2 October 2011 - 11:26 am

I applaud these decisions. In South Manchester we certainly enjoy the benefit of a wonderful range of parks and open spaces. However I do wonder who decrees exactly where a litter bin is “sited”. I feel quite strongly there are none where they are obviously needed eg; by access to football pitches/playing fields and others are out of sight under bushes or trees.

Paula Isherwood

Sunday 2 October 2011 - 6:44 pm

Since our talk 10 days ago I have seen a email from Councillor smith in which seems to think that because the grass will still be cut and parks tidied that volunteers will not notice any difference. That is the least of our worries. Weive already had the wildflower meadow cut with a substandard machine and now have to finish the job ourselves. We’ve had our wooden gates inspected in mid August by the people who will be taking over the management of our parks and had to repair the “Passed” gate ourselves. This same SK Stockport took over two months to remove a gate which was a simple five minute job. We have been waiting for months for a metal sluice cover and have no hope it will arrive any time soon. The list is getting longer by the day.

Yes, we have a Green Pennant Award but will not reapply because a) we cannot afford and b) we cannot guarantee that the reduced number of rangers will cope with the work load.

Indeed Estelle you do “enjoy the benefits of the wonderful range of parks and open spaces” but as volunteers we wonder for how much longer. While you are still enjoying them please think of the hardworking rangers whose jobs are now on the line. We volunteers will all miss them.