2018/19 Update

Christmas Run held by Parkrun

Harrow Lodge Park Management Plan Update 2018/19

Events

Apart from the regular fun fairs, firework display and Havering show. Last year Harrow Lodge Park hosted the Lighthouse Gospel Festival over three days in June. This was one of four run that summer in the area.

10. Management

10.1 Management structure

Parks and Open Spaces are within the Public Realm department within the Environment service area and Neighbourhoods directorate.

Council management structure

The Public Realm department is made up of Parks and Open Spaces, Grounds Maintenance, Street Cleansing, Waste and Recycling and Housing Estates. The Parks and Open Spaces section is headed up by the Parks Development Manager. This role line manages two Parks Development Officers (North and South of the borough), Parks

Maintenance Supervisor and the Raphael Park Manager (Heritage Lottery Funded park). The parks officers then line manage the Park Rangers and Apprentices. The Parks Service has three Rangers and three Apprentices based at Hornchurch County Park, Harrow Lodge Park and Havering Country Park. Although primary based at these Parks they are also tasked to work on other sites where necessary and offers the Parks Service a useful tool for dealing with unexpected issues. As they have a range of equipment, including chainsaws, chippers, mini digger and dumper, this allows a large element of flexibility.

Paul Ellis Group Manager Public Ream

Martin Haskell Grounds Maintenance Manager

James Rose Parks Development Manager

Nigel Oxley

Historic Buildings and Landscapes Officer Housing Estates Manager Waste and Recycling Manager Street Cleansing Managers

Tom Fradd Parks Development Officer - North

Gareth Jones Park Ranger

Park Ranger Apprentice x2

Richard Cottam Parks Development Officer - South

Mick Greenslade Park Ranger

Daniel Weston

Park Ranger

Reg Bland

Parks Maintenance Supervisor

James Keeble Parks Maintenance Assistant

Vacant Raphael Park Manager

Tree Officer

Grounds Maintenance DSO Park Ranger Apprentice x1

Public Realm management structure (relating to Parks)

The Parks Development Officer for the South of the borough manages Harrow Lodge Park with input from the Parks Development Manager. One of the Park Rangers is based in the Harrow Lodge Park and alongside the Grounds Maintenance department is responsible for the maintenance of the park. He also regularly communicates with the public and user

groups reporting any necessary issues to colleagues, e.g. the Parks Officer and Parks Protection.

Following a senior management restructure in the summer of 2016 the Parks Protection Service are now managed by Regulatory Services, within the Neighbourhoods directorate. They still operate in exactly the same way but are within the same department as the other Council enforcement teams.

10.2 Financial management

The Parks and Open Spaces revenue budget was £2,105,030 in 2016/17. There is not a specific budget assigned to individual parks but there is a budget of £1,700,000 set for grounds maintenance which is transferred to the DSO. The remainder is used for fixed costs, e.g. vehicle management, utility bills, staff salaries, and reactive works, e.g. repairs and additional grounds maintenance. There are separate budgets for arboriculture and the building management (Corporate Landlord) which are held by the responsible departments.

Any income generated within parks, e.g. events, car parking charges (in some parks), sports pitches and buildings fees, goes towards the budget stated above.

There has been a parks capital programme with a reasonable budget in most recent years. When it was agreed that the standards of Harrow Lodge Park would be improved an action/improvement plan was produced and costs were estimated. The Council then agreed a capital budget of £1,200,000 to be made available from 2015.

External funding was secured towards the costs of refurbishing the café and toilets from the local landfill tax organisation Veolia North Thames Trust. However in 2016 the local trusts were closed and funding bids directed towards the central organisation, Veolia Environmental Trust. This has significantly limited the applications that can be made and no further bids have been made for Harrow Lodge Park.

In previous years several of the sports and recreation facilities in parks have been part funded by the London Marathon Trust, including the Southern ball court (MUGA) in 2007.

10.3 Computerised Management System

In 2011 The Parks Service set up the Mayrise Grounds Maintenance Computer Software System. This system has been programmed with all of the inventory information of features on each of the parks sites. The system went live on 1st April 2012 and has allowed accurate control of resource management, improved service traceability, improved grounds maintenance monitoring and budget control. It also allows individual monitoring regimes to be tailored to each park and assists in the objective of celebrating the diversity of Havering’s Parks.

10.4 Accreditation

10.4.1 Green Flag

The Council recognises the importance of achieving this award and since 2007 has been applying for key parks throughout the borough. In 2016 11 parks now have Green Flag Award. Both officers and Councillors value the prestige of being able to fly the flag in the

parks and utilise the status and associated high standards for marketing and promotions. It is also a useful management tool for all parks when looking to make improvements. The criteria for achieving the award set good benchmarks for standards that should be aspired to.

As part of the improvement plan for Harrow Lodge Park it was agreed that a first application would be made in 2017 when most of the works will be completed. The standards in the park will then be maintained and further improvements carried out to ensure that the criteria can be met in future years.

2016 flag raising ceremonies

10.4.2 London in Bloom

As with Green Flag the Council values the recognition of good standards when achieved these awards. The primary focus is the borough award and in 2016 this achieved a silver gilt. In 2015 it was category winner with gold and Havering then took part in Britain in Bloom 2016 where Silver Gilt was awarded in the Large City category. Due to the importance of the parks and open spaces with Havering, Councillors, friends groups and general park users many sites enter the award and in 2016 this included 10 golds and 3 category winners. Harrow Lodge was awarded silver in 2016 and the objective to achieve gold in 2017.

Staff and the Lead Member celebrate winning London in Bloom Awards

10.5 Action Plan

10.5.1 SWOT Analysis A SWOT analysis was carried out in 2015 by officers from Parks officers to list the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for Harrow Lodge Park. The analysis determined which areas of the park should be improved and the priority for improvement. It was carried out by first listing all of the issues and then attaching a score to each item. Many of the issues listed were highlighted during the regular park inspections carried out by officers. There were two scores. The first being importance of the item, the second being how much the Parks and Open Spaces Service can change things. The SWOT analysis table can be found in Appendix 18. 10.5.2 Improvement Plan From the SWOT analysis a number of themes emerged and they were ranked in score priority. These were prioritised into the Improvement Plan and this can be found in Appendix 19. The Improvement Plan are the items of importance that are either a Weakness, Opportunity or Threat that are within the scope of the Parks and Open Spaces Service to action change. The items from the Improvement Plan were then used to create the park’s Action Plan (below) which determines what areas of work is to be done, who is doing it and how it will be funded.

10.5.3 Action Plan

The final Action Plan was drafted to improve/correct all of the prioritised weakness and threats as listed in the SWOT. In addition the Action Plan looks to deliver as many of the listed opportunities that were stated during the SWOT exercise. The Action Plan sets out agreed targets, budgets and responsibilities for the improvement of the site. Where there is no cost the task requires no additional funding and is completed using Council staff.

Task Target start date Completion Date Measurement/ monitoring Officer Responsibility Cost £

Improved use of social media March Annually March Annually Review methods of social media used to ensure relevant James Rose None N/A

Training for DSO Feb – 19 Ongoing Update website information January Annually January Annually Skills gaps identified and relevant training completed Mark Jones 1k Revenue Up to date, relevant information available on LBH website Richard Cottam / Comms None N/A

Press releases On going On going Regular good news stories and information sent to comms

Events programme January Annually On going Internal and external events managed Richard Cottam None N/A

Parks Team None N/A

Parks Monitoring inspections Jan 19 Monthly Check done Monthly Richard Cottam None NA

Revise Management Plan October 18 January 19 Annual revision until 2022 then full update Richard Cottam None NA

Apply for Green Flag Jan 19 31st January

Parks furniture check Monthly Ongoing

Ensure fire breaks are cut around conservation area

April Annually October Annually

Fire breaks maintained at a satisfactory standard throughout the year Mark Jones none NA

Management Plans and application form completed James Rose 319 Revenue

All furniture inspected, defects repaired and if required replacements programmed Richard Cottam 300 Revenue

Annually review new tree planting opportunities

Sep Annually

Feb Annually Suitable areas and species identified for planting Richard Cottam 500 Capitial

Cut conservation and wildflower areas

Sep Annually October Annually

Areas cut and collected (where necessary) Mark Jones / Rangers None NA

Visual inspection of play area Operational inspection of play area Independent play area inspections

Min of by weekly On going Visual inspection sheets

Mark Jones / Area supervisors None N/A

Quarterly ongoing Parks fitter reports Parks Fitter None N/A

Yearly Aug Annually RoSPA Report James Rose Revenue

Analyse results of MORI survey Jan - 19 April 19 Results of the survey relating to parks analysed and any necessary actions programmed James Rose None NA

Ecological survey of conservation areas Spring and summer 2019 Sept 19 Ecology report on findings Richard Cottam £3000 Revenue

Opening event for new trim trail Spring 2019 May 2019 Open event in conjunction with Kompan Richard Cottam None N/A

Clean out silt lagoon April 19 May 19 Assist Highways team with works where necessary

Improvements works to Sarah’s pond area Througho ut year Dec 2019 Area opened up and more accessible

Install interpretation at Sarah’s Pond Spring 2020 May 2019

Deliver borough wide environmental education programme in partnership with EWT Aug-19 Sep-19

Design and installation of new interp sign explaining about area

Estimated costs and number of parks to be confirmed. Spencer Gray/Richard Cottam Highw ays funde d

Richard Cottam / Ranger Service £1000 Revenue

Richard Cottam £4000 Capital / funding

James Rose TBC