Agenda item

Question/Area of discussion

Current Position

GBC has spent a considerable amount of time and money on Gedling Country Park and we need to be seeing a return on the investment. We were informed at full Council some time ago that a report on Gedling Country Park would be made available for Members, when is this likely to be?

The Visitor Centre and Café 1899 at Gedling County opened to the public on 12 June 2017

The cafe is operated under a detailed contract with Nottingham City Council on a profit share basis. There are regular contract review meetings held between senior officers from The Council and City managers where the contact, performance, operational issues and future plans are fully discussed and minuted. These accountability meetings provide a clear opportunity for professional challenge and joint planning.

The meeting have detailed sales and cash flow reports presented to them and this enables discussion to take place about income growth, emerging trends and forecasting.

The Councils internal auditors recently carried out a robust audit on the contracting arrangements and the accountability meetings held with the City Council - this reported favourably.

Now that a full year’s trading figures are available a report is being prepared for the Senior Leadership Team and when this has taken place it can be shared with Members.

It’s is important to conclude that the Council did yield a surplus from the operation of Café 1899 in the first year of trading.

See also the question and answer regarding business planning that is related.

Could the Portfolio Holder make stronger representations to supermarkets in GBC area in order for them to drastically cut down on plastics which do not biodegrade? Supermarkets in France, Italy and Spain sell items and food stuff loose.

Part of the Plastic Clever Council initiative action plan is to talk to supermarkets about the potential of introducing plastic free aisles. There was a suggestion that the Climate Changes Group could undertake the work or offer support. Update at the next Plastic Clever Council meeting on the 25^th September.

Could the Portfolio Holder research the possibility (together with other local Council, City etc.) of using the incineration technology whereby only PET bottles, aluminium and tin plate cans are recycled, the rest is incinerated but this would provide a huge amount of clean energy (see the Swiss model?) Needs radical thinking and research then to employ influence, leadership and cooperation with other Councils. But let GBC take the initiative.

In a two tier local authority arrangement waste collection is carried out by Gedling Borough Council as the designated Waste Collection Authority (WCA) whereas disposal arrangements and costs are the responsibility of Nottinghamshire County Council as the Waste Disposal Authority (WDA).Nottinghamshire County Council awarded a 26 year PFI (private fund initiative) contract to Veolia Environmental Services Ltd in 2006. Gedling Borough Council are therefore responsible for collecting and delivering waste to contractually designated disposal sites and has limited influence in what can be collected and subsequently recycled.

Waste that cannot be recycled is collected as domestic waste and is disposed of at the Eastcroft energy recovery incinerator.

Eastcroft generates steam for Enviroenergy Limited, a company wholly owned by Nottingham City Council. Environenergy supplies heat to a wide range of customers, including 4,600 domestic premises in the city, as well as public buildings including the Broad Marsh shopping centers, Victoria Baths, Nottingham Trent University’s Newton Building, the Inland Revenue building, the Magistrates Court and the National Ice Centre.

Could the Portfolio Holder consider more out of the box methods for ‘recycling’ unwanted goods? For example In Germany on one day of the week for 2/3 hours unwanted items are put outside houses for folk to come and reuse. In other words what is one man’s rubbish another man may desire it.

Many charity items can be collected from peoples’ homes and there are many charity shops throughout the Borough for people to leave their donations. For example there is also a drop off point at the shops at Ravenshead for people to donate items to a local  charity. Giving to the various charities that support the vulnerable across the Borough is a key part of their ongoing business plans.

A range of items can be recycled or disposed of at the Nottinghamshire County Council recycling centres including glass, paper and cardboard, plastic bottles, textiles, metals, electricals, engine oil, car batteries, cooking oil and green waste.

I would like to know the current progress and content of the ‘Gedling Park Business Plan’.

Things that are currently being prioritised include:

·         Accreditation of Café 1899 as Plastic Clever by the Meeks family.

·         Additional Car Parking.

·         Further developing the outdoor seating area.

·         Potentially further developing relocating the stench pipe.

·         Further developing an event programme at Cafe 1899

The Council operates Café 1899 under a detailed contract with Nottingham City Council under a profit sharing arrangement. 

A specific Gedling County Park ‘business plan’ doesn’t exist and at the present time it is felt unnecessary to have one in place as plans and accountability processes exist that in reality perform the same function. 

The quarterly contract review meeting process, the parks Green Flag management plan and accompanying ecology plan are all related to the future of the cafe and parks development.

The Portfolio Holder for Environment is regularly briefed and involved on all park related matters. The partnership with the Friends of Gedling Country Park is very positive and productive The Councils commitment to have a full time ranger in place at the park is again proving very beneficial.

In addition to the above the Director with lead responsibility for the Country Park convenes a regular internal meeting with the Service Manager for Parks and Street Care and the Parks Development Officer, specifically focused on current issues and future developments.

What are the Council’s plans for our green, relatively open parks e.g. Breck Hill, Valley Road etc. do we have a timetable for their review?

The Green Spaces Strategy expired in 2017 (this is being refreshed during 2018/19), during February 2016 a priority list was identified for play area upgrades, some of the play areas have been upgraded, i.e. Valeside Gardens and Arnot Hill Park.  The next priorities (according to their audited poor condition are) Muirfield, Lambley Lane, Carnarvon, Killisick, Onchan Drive, Adbolton , Breckhill, Arno Vale and Valley Road.

Capital funds will need to be identified including S106 contributions, there is a small amount available currently £35k to be used to upgrade an existing recreational facility within 2km from Cavendish Road, Carlton.

WREN funding applications have been successful for play area upgrades but this is usually achieved with a strong community group attached to the park, aiding the application process and gathering evidence of community need.

During the past 18 months we have benefitted from £150k of capital from WREN for three projects (Muirfield MUGA, Valeside Gardens refurbishment of play area and Arnot Hill Park Play Area refurbishment, £50k per project) and a further application bid of £70k is currently being considered for Haywood Road development.

There is a very young friends group starting at Breckhill.  Warren Action Group are intending to put in a joint WREN bid with GBC this December 2018 for a play area upgrade and Onchan Park are considering a Sport England bid for a MUGA.

Play area closures have been explored, potential are:

Edison Way

Carnarvon Grove

Honeywood Gym

Lambley Lane

Breckhill

What is our involvement and contribution to the cleaner air policy being developed across the city and county through Public Health? Are there likely to be specific targets for reducing the pollution on the road through Daybrook?

Brendan Cox is one of two District air quality members of the task and finish group to agree the revised Nottinghamshire and Nottingham Air Quality Strategy led by Public Health. It is unlikely that there will be additional specific targets for Daybrook within the document. The targets for pollution reduction on the A60 are dealt with through our revised Air Quality Action Plan.

At Carlton Cemetery a bereaved partner will have to pay £1044 to bury their loved one. Whilst at Redhill Cemetery in Arnold a local resident will only have to pay £861 for the same amount of land and the same services from GBC. Why do you have a policy of having residents in Carlton paying a higher fee for the same services than those who reside in Arnold?

The fees quoted are actually for the  “Purchase Exclusive Rights of Burial” not burial fees.

The Carlton “lawn” section have a concrete memorial raft already in situ and the “lawn” section at Redhill do not have this facility, so this is what the additional cost is for, to cover the memorial concrete raft.

Burial fees are the same for each cemetery.

Are there any proposed additional measures within the Gedling Country Park, given the recent spate of vandalism?

The damaged wooden sculptures will be positioned into CCTV covered areas.

Wardens will be tasked to patrol the park if ASB spikes are reported.

What is the Council’s litter policy and what is currently being done to encourage people not to drop litter and promote cleaner streets?

The Council’s priority is to prosecute individuals for littering as a deterrent: figures are as follows:

·         Financial Year April 2016-March 2017 we prosecuted 15 individuals for littering.

·         April 2017 – March 2018 10 individuals were prosecuted.

·         So far since March 2018 8 individuals have been prosecuted.

During the same period 171 FPNs for people dropping litter were served with a 70% payment rate.

Early morning covert patrols have taken place to address littering and dog fouling at Gedling Country Park and other areas. Prosecutions and enforcement activity publicised in Contacts and using social media as well as publicising individual events such as the dog poo tree on Mapperley Top.

What is the council doing to protect wildlife habitats?

The wildlife habitats are enhanced and protected with the carrying out of the actions identified in the Ecology management plan 2017-2021, this plan along with Local Nature Reserve status which is proposed will ensure protection of Wildlife now and into the future, examples include:

·         Providing Butterfly scrapes to protect rare species of butterfly the ‘dingy Skipper’.

·         Woodland works performed outside breeding bird season

·         Intall Bat, Bird nesting boxes

·         Coppicing of woodland/tree cover

·         Use of animal grazing to maintain and enhance the floristic diversity in the grassland

·         protect ground nesting birds through use of stock fencing

·         Hand pulling of dominant tall ruderal vegetation in grasslands (non-use of herbicides)

·         Maintenance of boundary hedge including infill planting

·         Extension of reeds beds in Pond 2, creation of island for nesting waterfowl

·         Maintain a third open water space by removal of reeds

Signage to notify public of precious wildlife habitats and how they can help to preserve, e.g. not allowing dogs in the water courses or allow them to worry the grazing stock

Gedling Country Park

1.    Do we have any data for the foot fall?

2.    What is the social capital arising from the park?

3.    Do we receive any income from the café?

1.    During the first year of opening (June 2017-June 2018) Café 1899 has served 61,912 customers.

In relation to actual foot fall in the Country Park accurate figures haven’t been systematically gathered because of the time and expense in doing so.

2.    In terms of social capital a number of networks and groups of people regularly use the park and some contribute to its upkeep and development, for example:

·         The Friends of Gedling Country Park.

·         Men in Sheds (produced bird boxes)

·         Visits from local schools.

·         Visits by walking groups led by ‘Everyone Active’.

·         Planned use by St Marks Church, Woodthorpe.

·         Regular visits by a disabled carers group.

3.    The Café operates under a profit share scheme with Nottingham City Council and a report is to be prepared for SLT and Members covering the first year of trading which did a healthy surplus.

I would also be interested in our recycling targets and strategy.

See below