South Gloucestershire Council

Published: 20/03/2014

From 1 April, communities throughout the district will be enhancing the council’s ‘core standard’ of essential streetcare services with additional services such as extra grass cutting, roadside floral displays and shrub bed maintenance.

These enhanced services will typically be delivered by Parish and Town Councils using contractors working on their behalf.

The ‘streetcare localism’ scheme reflects the council’s ambition to devolve responsibility for local services to individuals, communities and parishes where this is possible and can deliver better value for money.

It will also help the council to balance its income and expenditure, at a time of significant reductions in funding for all local authorities.

Chair of the council’s Communities Committee Cllr Claire Young said: “South Gloucestershire has a long history of involving local communities in shaping their areas and the services they receive. This scheme builds on the good practices and working relationships that already exist.

“I’m delighted by the positive response we have had from parish and town councils. Many have, in consultation with their residents, tailored their street care services to local needs and priorities.

“Localism is very much about moving away from a ‘one size fits all’ model to a more flexible, locally responsive approach so it’s great to see the range of enhanced services being introduced across the district.”

Parishes planning to provide enhanced services include Winterbourne Parish Council which will be providing 10 extra cuts of its highway verges each year, in addition to the two cuts provided through the core standard. The parish has also taken on responsibility for maintaining six local shrub beds and has commissioned a contractor to deliver both services.

In addition, the parish will be using South Gloucestershire Council as a contractor to maintain some of its dog waste bins. National guidance now permits dog waste to be placed in any litter bin, or in domestic black bins, but some Parish Councils, including Winterbourne, have opted to retain a number of their dog bins following consultation with residents.

Chair of Winterbourne Parish Council Cllr Tim Bowles said: “In the Parish of Winterbourne we have a wide and varied range of streetcare management requirements.

“We felt that by embracing the principles of localism we could provide an enhanced level of service that is tailored to meet the specific needs of our community.

“We already manage some very popular open spaces throughout the Parish and will be using this experience to provide a programme designed to meet the specific needs of each area. This will see the Parish Council providing additional grass cutting and maintenance services and give us the ability to be even more responsive to the needs of our parishioners.”

Further information including details of services provided within each parish, are available at www.southglos.gov.uk/streetscene