Agenda item

Report of the Director of Open Spaces.

The Open Spaces Department Business Manager introduced a report of the Director of Open Spaces on the Open Spaces Department Business Plan 2014-17. She outlined some of the strategic objectives for 2014/15, including a review of City Churchyard management arrangements and the rollout of the Open Spaces visual identity. She noted that the rollout of the new identity had commenced with the recent publication of the Epping Forest Diary 2014/15 and would continue with the forthcoming publication of the Hampstead Heath Diary on 14 April 2014.

            She went on to draw the Committee’s attention to the one page summary of the business plan, which had been drawn up at the request of frontline staff. She concluded by noting that the departmental risk register had also been included in the plan, and that a new strategic risk had been added to the register concerning the impact of anti-social behaviour across the City’s Open Spaces at the request of staff from West Ham Park.

            Two observers attending the committee expressed concern that  the Business Plan was being presented to the other open spaces management committees for information only, with one observer commenting that that this represented a ‘top down’ approach rather than a ‘bottom up’ approach to formulating policy and priorities. In response the Chairman agreed that policy was best informed by a bottom up approach and this was reflected in the fact that many of the strategic objectives within the plan before the Committee had been included after having been identified by the various open spaces management committees throughout the previous year. The Director of Open Spaces confirmed that staff across the open spaces were involved in informing the business plan to ensure local issues were addressed effectively, and that the plan was submitted to the Open Spaces and City Gardens Committee ahead of the wider open spaces management committees to avoid delay in its timely adoption.

            The two observers went on to express concern that the plan referenced projects involving Wanstead Flats and both a West Ham Park café, and the West Ham Park Nursery, despite these projects not having been discussed by the Epping Forest & Commons and the West Ham Park Committees, respectively. In reply the Chairman noted that the projects referred to were at a very early stage in the City of London’s project procedure, and were by no means confirmed. He added that it was necessary to reference them in the business plan should it be determined that they were to proceed. In response to a suggestion from an observer, officers agreed to amend reference to West Ham Park Café as a ‘feasibility study’. 

            In response to a suggestion from a member, the Open Spaces Department Business Manager agreed to reference the Hampstead Heath STEM education project to the Hampstead Heath Ponds Project strategic objective.

            In response to a request from a member for consistency in terminology throughout the document, the Director of Open Spaces noted that the current plan represented a condensed version of what had been a much larger and unwieldy document and no doubt explained the inconsistency in terminology between what had previously been different papers and reports– she commended the hard work of the Open Spaces Department Business Manager in achieving this reduction and further noted that the document would be reviewed and amended further in future years as appropriate.

            In response to comments from an observer and a member, the Chamberlain replied that the inconsistency in figures listed in the financial information section of the plan arose from the use of estimated figures. The Business Manager confirmed the end of year figures would be used.

RESOLVED –

·         That the Open Spaces Department Business Plan 2014-17 be approved;

·         That key projects and performance indicators be subject to quarterly reports to be submitted to the Open Spaces and City Gardens Committee.