Agenda item

Verbal update.

Members received the following update from the Superintendent:

Budget – spending in line with budget profile for the first half of the year, except at the Nursery under floral income code. It was unlikely that the nursery would meet its target in this area unless a further state function or similar takes place before the end of the financial year.  Under the terms of the contract with The Royal Parks, an uplift of 2.8% had been applied to the price of bedding plants from this summer, meaning that the current deliveries will be at the new contract prices. The Nursery had just undergone an internal audit looking at procurement and invoicing, with a very positive outcome.

Staff – the part-time services support officer providing financial support for the team had resigned. The response to the recruitment process had been positive with 44 applications received, from which 7 had been shortlisted for interview. Following a final probationary period meeting last week, unfortunately we were not able to confirm the permanent appointment of the Park Manager. The Superintendent was currently seeking some temporary support for this post, whilst undertaking the recruitment process, subject to any appeal.

Works update – spring bedding plants were being delivered across London and were being planted in the ornamental gardens at West Ham. A survey of the trees in the park had been completed by Tree Officers from LB Islington under the framework agreement, and all works had been stored on our Arbortrack database. The price of proposed works is, as anticipated, quite high this first inspection, but works had been prioritised into urgent and non-urgent and we are spreading them over 2 financial years. Going forward, work would be substantially cheaper in future years.

Community & Events

The Gardening club had continued in the Jubilee Food Garden with weekly sessions throughout the summer and was now coming to an end for the winter season.  Bumper crops including potatoes, tomatoes, courgettes, beans, beetroot and carrots had been shared amongst the regular volunteers.  Sessions would start up again next March/April 2015 when Officers would begin preparing the beds for sowing.

The Friends of West Ham Park successfully completed 86 x 60second surveys with members of the public on Saturday 16^th August, helping Officers to keep track of the views and comments of Park visitors.

Two bat walks led by the Friends were held in the park in August and September which were very well attended with 69 attendees in August and 60 in September. 

The Friends held their AGM in September; Nicky Brown stepped down as Chairman following 3 very successful years leading on a variety of events.  Ron Innell was elected as new Chairman with Roger Jones as Deputy Chairman.  

65 young people (16-17 years old) from an organisation called the Challenge Network, volunteered in the Park on Sunday 28^th September, helping to rake cuttings from the wildflower meadows which had been mowed a few weeks previously.  The young people cleared nearly 4000m² of meadow cuttings.

Awards and visits - The Green Flag and heritage awards were both retained this year. The park received a Gold Award in the large parks category of London in Bloom

APPGHG visit postponed from earlier in the year has been re-scheduled for 28th October. MPs from both houses would visit the park before proceeding onto the Cemetery & Crematorium.

Property – the City Surveyor was currently seeking pricesfor the refurbishment of a further 6 tennis courts this winter as part of the AWP. A consultant had been appointed to review the viability of the nursery business. This was something that was not only good business practice every few years but also formed part of the service based review and would help inform the new nursery business plan.

The Superintendent met with officers from London Borough of Newham and the head teacher of Park Primary school regarding the creation of another entrance to the Park immediately opposite the school on Ham Park Road. As the proposed entrance was only 100m from Linden Gate the school would normally have been discouraged to pursue this further however this formed part of LBN’s sustainable transportation strategy seeking to encourage healthy travel to school and of course to reduce potential clash between pedestrians and vehicles. This would therefore be the subject of a future report to your committee, timing dependent on information from LBN and Park Primary. If this was to be considered further the project would need to be revenue neutral for its whole life.