Date: 09/06/2009
Grounds maintenance workers from three councils pulled out all the stops to carry out a town's summer planting scheme in a record-breaking single day.
April saw the launch of a shared grounds maintenance service between High Peak Borough Council, Staffordshire Moorlands District Council and Cheadle Town Council.
The service is one of several to have emerged already from a strategic alliance forged last June between High Peak and Staffordshire Moorlands to save the taxpayer more than £1m a year.
And the combined grounds maintenance team proved its worth on Tuesday 9 June when it completed the planting of Buxton's outdoor bedding plants in just one day, bringing a splash of summer colour to traffic islands, Spring Gardens and the Pavilion Gardens plus other town centre sites.
Said parks team supervisor Paul Farrell: "It was great to see High Peak, Staffordshire Moorlands and Cheadle workers all mucking in - quite literally - to get the job done in record time and with first class results".
Next week, the team will turn its attentions to Leek town centre before lavishing some TLC on Biddulph and Cheadle, the other two Staffordshire Moorlands towns.
Said High Peak councillor John Haken, as executive member for the environment: "This is the first time that summer planting has taken place under the joint grounds maintenance contract. I'm delighted by the results and am confident that our residents will be as well. Certainly, the new service has already attracted quite a few compliments from the public".
The combined grounds maintenance service is expected to save around £100,000 a year across the two councils.
Other shared services already up and running include environmental health, a Clean Team for responsive street cleaning, and a single Chief Executive's Office responsible for functions including health and safety, communications, policy development and public consultation.
By the end of its third year, the alliance is expected to be saving around £1.1m a year across High Peak and Staffordshire Moorlands.
Meanwhile, Thursday 11 June will see the end of recruitment to a new management structure that will reduce director, head of service and business manager posts from 37 to 21, saving around £460,000 a year after the first 12 months.