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Bridgend Council approves £300k transfer for new in-house grass-cutting service

A Section Of Road Near Aberkenfig Bridgend (Pic: Google Maps)

BRIDGEND council have approved the transfer of more than £300,000 worth of capital funding from their budget this year in order to develop an in-house grass-cutting service.

The decision was made at a full council meeting held on September 25, for a sum of £340,000 to be moved from an existing capital project for Ravens Court offices that is no longer needed.

The cash will go towards the costs of getting the new rural grass-cutting service up and running, with the funds largely needed for the purchase of new equipment such as mowers, along with work that is required at the authority’s Bryncethin depot.

The change comes after a meeting in January of 2024, where it was decided to bring the service back in-house, as some members felt it would be more cost-effective and flexible if run alongside the service for grass cutting at parks, which was already carried out by the council.

Officers also told members in attendance that an order for the necessary equipment would need to be placed before September 30 if it was to be available for them to use by March 2025.

They added that work had already been undertaken with their job evaluation team with recruitment of staff for the new service expected to begin as soon as the autumn.

The report read: “It has been identified that capital resources to the value of £446,000, currently allocated to Ravens Court in the capital programme, are now no longer required for the purpose originally intended.

“It is proposed that £340,000 of the £446,000 be vired to support the estimated costs associated with the delivery of the urban and rural grass-cutting service in-house.”

Speaking ahead of the approval, there was intense scrutiny from opposition members of the council who felt there was not enough details or work done ahead of the transfer to test the market in order to see what the saving would be from bringing the service in-house.

Councillor Ian Williams asked: “What work have we done to see what the cost is to outsource and what is the difference? What is the saving that we’ll make by bringing this back in house?”

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However both officers and the council leader Cllr John Spanswick said the market had not been tested because the decision to bring the service back under council control had already been made earlier in the year with “clear evidence” that costs to outsource had gone up.

The discussion led to a series of heated back and forth between councillors with some asking that more details be brought forward before a decision was made. However,  the proposal was eventually taken to a vote which was passed with 28 for 18 against, and no abstentions.

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