Agenda item

The Superintendent of City Gardens & West Ham Park to be heard.

The City Gardens Manager updated the Committee on current issues in the City Gardens.

Finance

She noted that the City Garden’s budget was in line with agreed budget profiles.

Staff

She noted that City Gardens staff were currently recruiting an assistant gardener, and that there had been a slight delay in the recruitment process due to the team wishing to change the post’s rota hours to accommodate business needs, and that City Gardens staff were working with HR to complete this.

Projects

Guildhall Pond: she noted that the pond is undergoing a refurbishment. Works had included cleaning out the entire pond, a pump repair and replanting. The project was expected to be completed by mid-December.

St Andrew’s Holborn: she reported that the redesign and landscaping programme was progressing well. Planning permission for the works is would be sought in January, with works to begin on site in February and a completion date towards the end of summer 2014.

Tree inspection contract: the City Gardens team had undertaken a tender exercise for the inspection of tree stock. Traditionally, the tender process and inspection works had been undertaken annually. This year the team had taken the opportunity to work with City of London Procurement Service (CLPS) and had designed a specification to include West Ham Park and an award of the contract for five years with the potential for two, one year extensions. The contract has identified savings, officer time and included Massaria inspections for both areas for the duration.

Tree works contract: using the same principle as that adopted for the tree inspection contract, the team were currently preparing contract documents for a tree works contract, using a government framework. The City of London legal team were currently carrying out due diligence before a four year contract could be awarded.

Britain in Bloom

The City Gardens Manager reported that officers and the Chairman had attended the Britain in Bloom finalist award celebrations in Cleethorpes on 12 October. The City won an overall Gold for the Town category and due to consistent high quality applications over the years, the City had been picked, alongside five other entries across the country to enter the Champion of Champions category for 2014.

Friends of City Gardens and Volunteer Activities

The City Gardens Manager reported that 14 volunteers from the friends and the City Guides ‘put to bed’ Christ Church Greyfriars during mid – October and that the sessions had been a great success and were due to be repeated in spring 2014.

She added that 16,000 naturalised bulbs had been planted in some of City Gardens, at sites including the Barbican Estate; Thomas More and Ben Johnson High Walk, Postman’s Park and Bunhill Fields. The volunteer groups involved included: Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Thyme Out (a group of adults with learning disabilities from Bromley), Scouts from the City Group and the Friends of City Gardens.

She concluded by noting that the Friends of City Gardens are now an officially constituted group and had held their first Annual General Meeting on the 19 October, which had been attended by 300 persons. She added that the Friends had recently secured a small grant from the Skipton Building Society to undertake biodiversity workshops with disadvantaged groups. 

Finally, she noted that the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony would take place on Thursday 5 December at 4:00pm.

In response to a question from a member the City Gardens Manager confirmed that St Jude’s Day storm damage across City Gardens had been limited to the loss of one tree at Bunhill Fields and some minor damage to branches across City Gardens as a whole.

In response to a question from the Deputy Chairman regarding the works at St Andrew’s Holborn, the Superintendent confirmed that the City of London would assume responsibility for the expanded area of open space by the church, and that this would be funded by s106 monies.