Hackney parks posts to be axed
Daffodils in Clissold Park. Photo: © Hackney Citizen
An overhaul of Hackney’s award-winning parks is set to cut permanent posts, increase reliance on commercial events and privatise the maintenance of trees, leaked documents reveal.
An internal report by the council’s Head of Green Spaces outlines plans for the new scheme, which is designed to save the council money and increase its ability to generate income from parks and other green spaces.
The report has been circulating by email amongst Park User Groups for a number of weeks, with a suggestion that they may wish to write to the Head of Green Spaces and the Mayor about the proposals therein.
The planned restructure sees a reduction in the number of permanent posts from 102 to 85.
If implemented, the proposals will lead to an increase in the number of managers and a reduction in the number of council staff who work in the parks.
In a statement Hackney Unison said: “The job losses in a service which is already understaffed will lead to poorly maintained, less safe and dirtier green spaces.
“Staff in the parks service produced counter proposals which made the same level of savings whilst maintaining current staffing levels but these were rejected by management in favour of a new proposal which actually cuts funding further.”
The council is proposing that the tree maintenance programme be put out to tender, whilst another strategy for cost reductions involves the promotion of events in parks, driven by the council’s goal to “use Hackney’s parks and Green spaces to promote health and wellbeing for all”.
“Income generated from these events will fund the posts required to increase these events”, says the report, allowing the council to begin to generate higher revenue streams from the leasing of its green spaces for commercial use.
Cllr Jonathan McShane, Cabinet Member for Community Services said: “These new ways of working do not affect frontline staff in that there will be no reduction in their numbers at all.
“As part of the consultation the unions and parks staff have been asked for their views. As with any process like this, we will take these on board while ensuring that we create a service that continues to deliver the high standards that residents in Hackney want and deserve.”
A council spokesperson said: “There will be no reduction in actual staff numbers. The number of posts has been reduced from 102 to 92 [85 permanent, 7 two-year fixed-term]. Eight staff have accepted voluntary redundancy and 14 vacant posts have not been recruited mitigating any job losses.
“As with any consultation, proposals put forward by the council are not set in stone and are subject to change. Unison has fed into the formal consultation process [which eneded on 1 April]. The council will feed back [later this month].
“A decision has also been taken to use external contractors to undertake the physical work on the trees but it is important to note that we will be retaining two members of staff to manage the trees and the contractors within the Parks Service.
The contractors we are proposing to use are already undertaking work on the majority of the council’s trees on streets and on estates and have been doing so for at least two years. A Senior Arboricultural Officer and an Arboricultural Officer (fixed term for two years) have been proposed.
“The council consulted on an events policy to gauge types of events and the numbers of events people want to see in their local parks. The council consulted widely including user groups, parks forum and ward councillors. These views will be taken into consideration when developing the events policy.”