A COUNCIL has been warned if it intends providing services such as grass cutting commercially it can’t use “excuses” given to taxpayers. 

Torfeaen County Borough councillors were told if the authority were to operate a commercial service it would have to adjust to the demands of paying customers.

Local government management consultant Dave Henrys said high standards would operating on a commercial basis is a “different world” to local government.

He said:  “The key is making sure everything is run as is should for Torfaen and standards are being met as once you go into the private arena, a bit like all of us, if you employ someone to come to your house to carry out work you expect it done to a standard, within a time and for the cost that has been provided. 

“There are no excuses like it’s rained or you’ve had machinery break down, you have to get on with it and over those things. It is a different world to what we are used to in local government but it’s not something the council should shy away, or shirk, from. The workforce has skills that are very transferable, and machinery they have been trained to use, it’s something you should look to capitalise on.” 

Mr Henrys, from not-for-profit company APSE (Association for Public Service Excellence), reviewed the council’s combined streetscene and environmental services department – which undertakes a range of activities from street cleaning to grass cutting and horticultural services such as planting. 

The council’s cleaner communities scrutiny committee has examined how the council is managing green spaces in response to it having declared a nature emergency.

At the committee meeting independent councillor for Pontypool Fawr, Mark Jones, asked Mr Henrys how soon the council consider providing a service to private customers, if it so wished.

As part of the review digital mapping has been used to determine how much grassland the council has to manage. Mr Henrys said that would mean the council would “scientifically” know how many people it would need to employ and if it could offer a private service, which he said could also “bring in additional resource to the service”. 

A “workforce profile”, which is currently being carried out, would need to be completed before it could be said with certainty if a commercial service can be provided. 

The review looked at how the council could shift away from historic, repetitive work to be more ecological friendly and support the council’s duty to improve biodiversity. 

“One officer, in your council, said to me it’s not about maintaining grass but managing grass, it is about looking at it in a totally different way,” said Mr Henrys. 

That has included reducing grass cutting, and allowing wildflowers and grass to grow in spaces that have traditionally been maintained, sometimes in face of opposition from the public. He said less regular cutting could require new machinery, to cope with longer grass, and different working patterns with greater demand at the end of the grass growing season. 

He said the council could also require shift working to provide a seven day service and “make sure you get the right people in the right place at the right time rather than historically turn up for work and do what they can within those hours.” 

Pontnewydd Labour councillor Stuart Ashley said council staff should be recognised for their expertise and said he was “alarmed” to hear they had sometimes been used for collecting recycling. 

Mr Henrys said he agreed but warned if the service was subject to competition its “USP” is the flexibility of the workforce. 

The committee has said it wants to see the final report, from APSE, to see how officers respond.