Agenda item

To enable the Cabinet to consider a motion submitted by Councillor I J Henderson to the meeting of the Council held on 13 July 2021 relating to the Council’s grounds maintenance service and which was referred to the Cabinet by the Chairman of the Council for further consideration, in accordance with the provisions of Council Procedure Rule 12.4.

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

(a)    recommends that the Council should not support the motion in its original format; and

(b)    will not suggest to Council at this time that an amended motion be proposed but will consider this further at a future meeting.

Cabinet recalled that, at a meeting of the Council held on 13 July 2021 (Minute 50 referred), the following motion had been moved by Councillor I J Henderson, seconded by Councillor Allen and, in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 12.4, had stood referred to the Cabinet for further consideration:

“That this Council accepts that its ground maintenance service is failing the tourist economy of the Tendring District as the lack of regular grass cutting and weed clearance is resulting in a negative visual impact for those seeking to enjoy Tendring’s Sunshine Coast.

It is further proposed that the necessary resources are immediately made available to ensure that Tendring’s coastal resorts present a positive visual impact throughout the 2021 summer season and that a review of the grounds maintenance policy then takes place to ensure that this issue does not reoccur in future years.”

Cabinet was also aware that Council Procedure Rule 12.5 (Referral of Motions) stated that:-

“Where a motion has been referred in accordance with Rule 12.4 the Cabinet or any relevant Committee shall (subject to the provisions of Rule 12.6) be required to consider such motion and to advise the Council (by no later than the second Ordinary Meeting of the Council held following the date of Council’s referral*) of their opinion and reason as to whether such motion should be supported in its original format.

Prior to making its decision Cabinet or the relevant Committee may following consultation with Officers, require further information to be presented to them for consideration on the implications of the proposed motion.  Such a report must be considered in a timely manner.

If the Cabinet or relevant Committee decides to advise the Council of its opinion that such motion in its original format should not be not supported, the Cabinet or relevant Committee may, in addition, suggest to the Council that an amended motion be proposed.

Once Cabinet or any relevant Committee has considered the motion it will be referred back to Council with the recommendation.  If an amended motion is proposed by Cabinet, or relevant Committee, when presented back to Council, the amended motion will be debated first, in accordance with Rule 16.5 and Rule 16.10 (b).”

[* In this instance the relevant Full Council meeting was due to be held on 30 November 2021.]

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 12.6 (Referred Motions – Right of Mover to Attend Meeting), Councillor I J Henderson attended the meeting to answer any questions and/or points of clarification, if requested. At the invitation of the Chairman, Councillors I J Henderson and Allen reiterated the purpose of the motion.

It was noted that the motion expressed concern about the performance of the Council’s open space and horticultural functions. A fuller outline of the extent of those functions plus other pertinent matters was set out in the ‘Service Information’ section of the Reference from Council (report A.1) which included:-

·      Maintenance of over 800 different sites in the District, including open spaces, parks, recreation grounds (which included significant numbers of sports pitches), seafront gardens, highway verges, cemeteries and crematorium grounds;

·      Floral bedding of over 250,000 plants each year;

·      Arboriculture inspections and works to over 5,500 trees and woodland management of ancient woodlands and other woodland areas;

·      The management of a diverse range of dynamic natural environment including the management of Hamford Water and Walton Backwaters and country parks;

·      The grass verge, highway tree maintenance and highway weed spraying on behalf of Essex County Council (ECC) including as many as eight additional cuts over the two cuts per year funded by ECC;

·      That the service had received awards for excellence across many of its service areas including sports pitch maintenance, garden shows, nature conservation, parks, seafront gardens and crematorium grounds;

·      That the 2021 summer, or growing, season had been a particularly challenging year due to unusually wet and warm weather giving rise to growing conditions way above normal but despite this, the public had been understanding and in many areas such as cemeteries, complaints were down on previous years;

·      That the open space / grounds maintenance service in Tendring had also continued to initiate new projects to improve public realm areas in Tendring, many of them in the Harwich and Dovercourt area, as well as developing new initiatives such as the expansion of the volunteer gardener team across Tendring; and

·      That the service had also received many compliments from visitors and local residents on the quality of visitor areas.

Having considered Councillor Henderson’s motion and in order for the Cabinet’s opinion and recommendation to be reported back to Council:-

It was moved by Councillor Talbot, seconded by Councillor G V Guglielmi and:-

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

(a)    recommends that the Council should not support the motion in its original format; and

(b)    will not suggest to Council at this time that an amended motion be proposed but will consider this further at a future meeting.