Following a review of its ground maintenance and street cleansing services, West Lancashire Borough Council is considering plans to create a new 'Clean & Green' service.



Later this month, Council at its meeting on 12 December 2018 will be asked to consider plans to restructure the service, creating more generic roles to enable staff to be upskilled to carry out a wide range of tasks from litter picking, and grass cutting to maintenance of shrubbery areas.



This radical transformation will see staff working in neighbourhood teams, equipped to deliver a wide range of maintenance tasks within an area to bring about improvements to the local environmental quality. A greater number of highly skilled staff will provide better resilience within the service to respond to issues that really matter to local residents.



If agreed, the service will be launched on 1 April 2019. Tasks will be delivered in-line with an agreed set of service standards, determining mechanical sweeping frequencies for street cleansing, regularise litter bin emptying and maintain grass cutting at a frequency of at least eight times in the season. Working in defined neighbourhoods, staff will be visible and become more familiar with local needs, being on hand to resolve issues quickly and efficiently.



Cllr Kev Wilkie, Portfolio Holder for Street Scene, said: "This is a really exciting time for the service which has been shaped to maintain service standards across the Borough. Offering a greater variety of tasks to staff helps keeps them motivated and enables them to have great pride in the area they work. It also provides better opportunities for them in the future. At a time when resources are limited, maintaining standards is a huge achievement and the future certainly looks a lot brighter."