Charnwood’s Green Spaces Boosted

Green spaces in Charnwood have been boosted thanks to a new way of working by the Borough Council.
Since the council’s Grounds Maintenance was reviewed in the autumn of 2008, there have been a number of successes for the team.
Work to brighten up green spaces has contributed to Loughborough securing Green Flag awards and scooping a gong in the East Midlands in Bloom competition.
Productivity has also doubled, compliments from the public have increased and complaints have fallen.
Successes include: More than 15,000 square metres of grass were cut by each team per day during last year’s mowing season, compared to 7,000 square metres the previous year. Last year work carried out by the Green Spaces Operations Service included stripping and replanting the Granby Street shrub borders and completely upgrading all the borough’s flower beds, including making soil improvements. Compliments have increased there have already been ten compliments in February and complaints about mowing have fallen from 43 in 2008 to seven in 2009. Winter works programmes have taken place during 2008/09 and 2009/10. More than 700 sites have been targeted to be visited over a three year period for a site overhaul, of which more than 100 of the larger sites are already completed. This includes shrubs and hedges being pruned, beds edged off and forked over, weeds removed and the areas generally tidied up.
Councillor Peter Lewis, Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure, said: “The service has made marked improvements that are shown in both the performance figures and in the customer feedback. There is still a great deal of work to do but this is a wonderful start by all those involved. I am delighted with the efforts of staff and for Charnwood residents.”