pressures will come from within, through much smaller overall budgets and from the general public, who will continue to demand a reasonable level of open space maintenance in return for their taxes.” The impact that neglect of parks and
green spaces has on communities has also been acknowledged in research, indicating that poorly kept public spaces can be linked to increased anti-social
open-minded in talking to the private sector to see how efficiencies can be achieved,” says Steven. “We are talking to a number of local authorities about various joint initiatives, for example. This could include SGM maintaining a client’s own fleet, perhaps also utilising and managing existing workshop facilities they might have, as we are often able to achieve greater efficiencies
Council, Northampton Borough Council and Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council. The Stockport contract, which commenced in 2005, has evolved throughout the economic downturn and government changes. The company has been working in partnership with the council and its wholly owned subsidiary, Solutions SK, to manage the council’s fleet of grass cutting machinery. At the start of the contract,
approximately 25% of the kit was still council owned and was to be maintained by SGM. This equipment would be replaced during the course of the contract as and when both parties agreed that it was uneconomical to repair but, whilst still on the fleet, needed to have accurate service records and be fit for purpose.
By 2009, machines owned by the council had fallen to a level of under 5% of the total fleet, with SGM employing three engineers and a business manager working from the same depot in Stockport, and with monthly meetings with the council to discuss current issues, new developments and any new products they felt could bring additional value to the contract.
behaviour, crime and fear of crime, and that lack of access to green spaces results in poorer public health and well-being. Experts have suggested that, for these departments, the impact of the spending review means more than just cutting costs, it means finding new ways of operating in order to add value to the services they are offering. In response to the 2010 Budget, Lord
Bichard, Director of the Institute for Government, said, “Those who run public services can do one of two things: carry on trying to run services as they do now and wait for the fallout from the budget, knowing that current flaws will only become more obvious and more entrenched. Alternatively, ask serious questions about how a service is functioning and radically rethink its design. It will take imagination and innovation, and it won’t be pain-free, but doing it could help get even better services than before and cut waste.” Several private sector organisations are now working to make the transition to what has been coined an era of “citizen creativity” less painful by offering flexibility and collaboration. Steven McInroy, Managing Director of SGM Contracts LLP, the UK’s largest hirer of groundcare equipment, holds the view that partnerships between the public and private sector can be particularly effective for achieving performance improvement and best value in the delivery of groundcare services. “The public sector has to be even more
through our processes and our buying power for spare parts.”
Such service delivery partnerships are becoming increasingly attractive to both local government and to suppliers in the groundcare industry. According to APSE, the local government body promoting excellence in public services, shared services “can be used to pool knowledge between organisations, whilst retaining local sovereignty.” Steven McInroy has seen, first-hand, the cost and efficiency savings that can be made with collaborative working: “Our partnering approach to groundcare fleet management has previously achieved savings of up to 35% of current equipment maintenance costs and reduced equipment downtime levels.” A recent paper published by APSE stated: “Greater machinery utilisation in a grounds maintenance unit can result in a reduction of the number of ride-on mowers/compact tractors; a potential saving of up to £100k.” Indeed, SGM’s partnering fleet management systems have led to a reduction in capital expenditure with its maintenance programmes, allowing customers to reduce their groundcare fleet sizes by up to 40% without any loss of operating capacity. Partnering between public and private sector organisations can only be effective through increased flexibility and adaptation. Over the past year, SGM has proven the power of flexibility in a number of contracts with customers such as Stockport Metropolitan Borough
As the end of the five year contract came into sight, SGM recognised that pressures surrounding local government, and particularly the forthcoming cuts in public spending, would play an essential part in Stockport MBC’s decision to extend the contract. They, therefore, guaranteed further flexibility in all aspects of the contract, as well as offering efficiency savings in areas such as fleet numbers and utilisation, response times and machine downtime, and operator training and staff development. These proposals were in line with Stockport MBC’s and Solutions SK’s visions for the future, resulting in a five year extension to the contract with SGM feeling confident enough to invest in excess of £150,000 this year to replace a key element of the fleet. Partnerships between public and private sector organisations involve shared management and shared risk, and local government also has a liability to be open to change when entering a joint initiative.
Simon Richard suggests that a large part of the solution to the problems now confronting them is for local authorities to reassess their whole machinery fleet in terms of value, performance and functionality, saying, “The skill for all concerned will be to arrive at the optimum level of capital expenditure that will deliver the best service possible for the taxpayer.”
Simon goes on to make a more specific suggestion for adding value to groundcare services: “In my opinion, the ability of local authorities to achieve those two objectives of delivering quality of cut at less frequent intervals, will be greatly increased by taking the decision to increase the level of rotary and flail mowers as a percentage of their groundcare machinery stock.” The shift away from cylinder gangs
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