To receive a report from the Head of Housing and Property Services updating Members on the consultation with Town and Parish Councils regarding the future arrangements of grass cutting of Devon County Council highway verges.
Minutes:
The Group had before it a report * from the Head of Housing and Property Services updating Members on the consultation with Town and Parish Councils regarding the future arrangements of grass cutting of Devon County Council highway verges.
The Property Services Manager explained that this authority had provided a grass verge cutting service on behalf of Devon County Council (DCC) for over 20 years and had been receiving contributions from DCC to provide this service. The cutting of the rural and urban highway verges was a requirement of the highway authority in order to maintain a safe environment for all users of the highway.
DCC had already reduced the frequency for grass cutting on their verges on previous financial years prior to the Tough Choices decision from six cuts and subsequently to four cuts in 2014-15. To maintain a good standard of grass verge cutting across the District, and to mirror adjacent District Council managed grass areas, this Authority’s grounds maintenance team had been providing seven to eight cuts in the Towns and larger parishes, with some of the smaller parishes receiving four cuts per annum, despite the year on year financial reduction and the specification on the number of times the grass verges are cut.
The DCC ‘Tough Choices’ consultation resulted in the decision to reduce the specification on cutting grass verges on land owned by DCC across the District to maintain visibility at road junctions and to restrict the width of the grass that was cut on the roadside verges to approximately one meter from the 1st of April 2015. This decision resulted in reduced funding for grass cutting verges in the 2015/16 year and a funding gap of £30k. The Cabinet approved to meet the funding gap of £30k imposed by DCC from the budget for the 2015-16 financial year. This enabled the authority to maintain standards across the District and to allow time to consult with Town and Parish Councils.
The Property Services Manager had subsequently been consulting with Town and Parish Councils.
Discussion took place regarding:
· Mapping that was available to identify which land was the responsibility of which council was, at times, out of date and officers had spent time with Town and Parish Councils to rectify this;
· The complexity of the proposals and the ‘pick and mix’ of agreements. The Head of Property Services explained that this was due to the variety of areas of land that needed cutting and their proximity to land belonging to this authority that would be dealt with at the same time, saving on travel expenses and economies of scale;
· The need for ongoing review.
It was RECOMMENDED to Cabinet that this authority:
a) Continue to provide grass verge cutting on Devon County Council highway land in Town and Parishes that have contributed funding based on the 2015/16 budget as detailed in 3.3 and Option 1.
b) To negotiate with those Town and Parishes Councils who have resolved on Option 1 for a reduction of one cut per annum or to contribute towards one additional cut per annum with reference to 3.4 and 5.5.
c) To withdraw from the Devon County Council grass verge cutting agreement, where the Town and Parish Councils have resolved to accept funding directly from Devon County Council as detailed in 3.3 /Option 2.
d) To withdraw from our grass verge cutting agreement with Devon County Council where Town and Parish Councils have resolved to accept Option 3 due to the financial shortfall forecast in Annex A.
e) Review the ongoing service provision of grass verge cutting in response to the reduction of funding as detailed at 5.6 by March 2016.
(Proposed by the Chairman and seconded by Cllr R Evans)
Note: - * Report previously circulated and attached to signed Minutes.
Supporting documents: