24th August 2007, 07/282
Double whammy for keeping district green and
clean!
A force to be reckoned with is our new grounds maintenance team
who are keeping the district clean and green since winning the
Council's in-house contract!
The original team has now doubled to 30 following news earlier this
year that the District Council's own street scene section had been
awarded the work to carry out grass cutting, shrub maintenance,
weed spraying within public open spaces, maintenance of sports
pitches and parks and grave digging.
In the past, private contractors had carried out 75% of this work
whilst 25% remained in-house. Councillors put the whole 100%
contract out for renewal in spring and our in-house team was
awarded it, which was a real coup.
As a result, additional workers have been transferred to the
Council from the existing contractor to deal with the extra
work.
Lots of state-of-the-art machinery has also been purchased to keep
the district in tip-top condition.
New equipment includes ride-on mowers, a big tractor, tractor-drawn
mowers, a flail for hedge cutting and other quality pieces of kit
to keep West Lancashire looking like a garden district - clean and
green,
Cllr David Westley, Portfolio Holder for Street Scene Management,
said: "Our own grounds maintenance team do a fantastic job and
always produce a high quality of work, which is reflected across
our green, attractive district. So I'm delighted that this has been
recognised and they are now carrying out 100% of this work.
"I'd just like to welcome all the new employees on board and thank
them for making this big change go so smoothly. We've doubled the
team and we've got lots of brand new equipment, so now we'll just
be getting on with keeping up our good reputation of keeping our
district beautiful, green and clean!"
Related information
> Council
news
> Street
cleaning
> Recycling