Amenity Grass Cutting Outsourcing Agreed
19th December 2010
The Highland Council has agreed savings proposals for grounds maintenance following a detailed discussion at a full council meeting today (Thursday).
Earlier in the year, the Council agreed that a tender for routine grass cutting be issued to establish the potential level of savings to be gained from contracting out this area of service. In parallel, it was agreed that an in-house bid be prepared for comparison with the external tenders.
The contract is split into 9 lots or areas, and will run for three years from April 2011.
Excluded from the tender are the core grounds maintenance activities including burials and cremations, grass cutting in certain cemeteries, flower beds, sports pitch maintenance, play areas and winter maintenance. The excluded activities will see the Council retaining a core workforce of some 105 staff.
Members were advised that the tender for grass cutting would result in a significant level of savings, (in excess of £1.3 million over 3 years).
It was agreed that services in Caithness Sutherland and East Ross should remain in-house.
In Mid/West Ross, Badenoch and Strathspey, Inverness and Nairn, services would be awarded to one new private contractor, who would also take over services in Lochaber, Skye and Lochalsh, from April 2012, when an existing contract, provided by a separate external contractor, ends.
The Council was told that an estimated 22 Council staff would transfer to the new contractor under the TUPE regulations. It was also estimated that the remaining workforce would have to be reduced by around 33 posts. It is hoped to reduce this number to around 10 through the management of vacant posts. The Council would also continue to seek alternative employment for all other staff.
Councillor John Laing, the Chair of TEC Services, said: "This proposal delivers a significant saving to the council. While it is unfortunate that jobs will be lost, we will be making every effort to minimise the impact through the management of vacant posts."
An amendment proposed to abandon the tendering process and another to defer the award of two of the "lots" were both defeated by the motion to proceed with the outsourcing of the work.
Related Businesses
Related Articles
As intimated in Highland Council's budget plan, a new senior management structure is to be implemented following approval by Council 14th March. It reconfigures the senior management team into two layers, rather than three and brings Highland Council into line with other benchmarked authorities.
Today, Morrison Construction introduced some of their local apprentices who are working on the UK Governments' Levelling Up Funded refurbishment project at the Northern Meeting Park in Inverness. All these apprentices have been recruited from the Highland area.
The by-election to elect a councillor to represent Ward 19 - Inverness South on The Highland Council has been won by Duncan Cameron McDonald - Independent who was one of the eight candidates who contested the vacancy. Voters in the ward went to the poll yesterday (Thursday 11 April) and the by-election count was held this morning in The Highland Council Headquarters in Inverness.
The Technology Placement Programme offers funding to businesses in the Highland Council area to cover up to 70% of the cost of employing a student or graduate. The Technology Placement Programme offers funding to businesses in the Highland Council area to cover up to 70% of the cost of employing a student or graduate.
Following the success of its Business Digital Grant scheme launched last year, The Highland Council is delighted to announce further funding. This is to help Highland companies access digital support alongside other business growth support.
The Highland Council is delighted to confirm a highly successful second year for Public Service Obligation (PSO) flights between Wick and Aberdeen. The period from April 2023 to March 2024 has seen a substantial increase in passenger numbers, with several months seeing over 1,000 passengers using the service, and overall the service has seen year on year growth of 25%.
Members of Highland Council, who met on Thursday 14 March 2024, approved a corporate Digital Ambition, which has been designed to deliver significant organisational change across Council services, recognising the current priorities within the organisation. The Strategy, which is embedded within the wider Council Delivery Plan, has been developed to focus attention and resources on areas of change which will deliver the greatest benefit to the Council.
The Council remains committed to supporting mentoring in our schools, including the support that is currently delivered through the MCR Pathways programme. Highland Council is currently undertaking a review of Employability Support provided by a number of different council services and how these relate to the work carried out by external partners and in our schools.
Highland Council members have considered and agreed a revised draft Highland Outcome Improvement Plan. The partnership plan has been reviewed and updated by the Community Planning Partnership.
Members at today's (14 March 2024) meeting of The Highland Council agreed the local authority's new draft Community Wealth Building Strategy. They were also asked to note that a period of public engagement on the draft will now begin, with a final strategy returning to full Council for consideration in September.
