A welcoming place
- All parks within Salford are covered under the parks, gardens and open spaces bylaws.
- We aim to provide good signage and are currently updating our park signage and will roll this out to all parks as funding permits.
- We aim to provide equal access for all members of the community and have recently audited all our main sites for disability access as part of a corporate wide drive. Issues arising from this audit are currently being addressed.
Healthy, safe and secure
- We aim to provide equipment and facilities that are safe to use.
- Trained staff carry out weekly checks on all playgrounds, a detailed inspection is carried out by staff trained to Royal Society of the Prevention of Accidents (ROSPA) standards every three months. All sites are inspected by an independent assessor on an annual basis. The surface area of the playground will be kept clear of broken glass and litter. When play equipment is damaged a contingency budget is available to either make a simple repair, remove the damaged equipment or immobilise it in order to ensure public safety.
- Vehicle access gates will normally be kept locked and are only opened for authorised vehicles. Parks are not locked at night.
- Bins are provided for rubbish and dog waste. These are emptied on a regular rota either once or twice a week depending on the park.
- We have health and safety policies in place to help ensure our staff follow good working practices.
Clean and well maintained
Winter and summer work schedules are drawn up in each of the operational areas.
These works include grass cutting, bedding, pruning, weed spraying and tree maintenance. Working practices comply with industry standards. Grounds maintenance is monitored through our quality management system and reviewed at regular meetings. Maintenance and upkeep standards are applicable across our range of sites.
Grass areas mowing season is March to October
- Grass areas - standard - these areas are mown every 15 working days and the clippings are not collected.
- Grass areas - low standard - the mowing frequency of these areas vary from monthly to one cut per year depending on the location of the grass or its ecological value.
- Perimeters of grass areas - grass edges are chemically treated depending on their location.
- Naturalised bulb areas - the naturalised bulb areas are cut in late July once the leaves of the bulbs have died down naturally.
Shrub beds
Shrub beds will be treated for weeds with the application of Herbicide twice per year, March and September and cleared of litter and debris monthly.
Shrub pruning once per year during the winter.
Flower beds
Flower beds are to be planted twice yearly in June or July for summer display and October for spring display.
Hedges
Hedges will be cut either once or twice a year depending on the type of hedge and location.
Obstacles
This term includes items of furniture, lighting columns, inspection covers and trees in grass areas. Obstacles will be chemically treated to prevent unsightly growth.
Hard surface sports areas
Areas will be kept free of leaves, litter, broken glass, loose gravel, etc.
Bowling greens
These areas will receive the appropriate sports turf maintenance accordingly.
Sports pitches
Pitches are marked out throughout the season according to fixtures.
Footpaths
- Footpaths - are to be sprayed with herbicide to prevent weed or grass encroachment.
- Footpath repairs - currently carried out following risk assessment to the city's park footpaths and the most urgent repaired according to risk.
Litter bins (sites may vary)
Bins are emptied on a rota either once or twice a week dependent on location.
Litter
- Parks are litter picked weekly.
- Grass verges are litter picked prior to mowing March to October.
- Fly tipping is removed as required.
Trees
- Trees which are damaged by gales and those in a dangerous condition will be made safe and dead or dying trees will be felled.
- Tree related enquiries and those which are implicated in claims for damage to private property or public buildings and property will be inspected and dealt with as appropriate according to the city council's tree policy.
- Generally we are not in a position to remove major deadwood.
Graffiti
All graffiti of a racist or explicit nature will be removed within 24 hours of receipt of a report. All other graffiti will be removed as soon as possible.
Gates/metal railings and walls
Gates/metal railings and walls are repaired following damage as part of the responsive maintenance and according to priority.
Sustainability
- We have an environmental policy in place.
- We aim to minimise pesticide use.
- We use only plants grown in peat free compost.
- We aim to recycle all our green waste. Currently around 50% of it is recycled on site, the rest goes to disposal sites for recycling.
- Our service standards aim for high quality horticultural standards as resources permit.
- We aim to use environmentally sustainable methods in our parks maintenance.
- We leave grass cuttings on the ground and we cover our beds with chipping to reduce the use of herbicides.
Conservation and heritage
Where appropriate each park has a section where we try to keep it as natural as possible.
In these areas we may only cut the grass once a year, we will leave dead trees where they are if it is safe to do so, or we may lay them down to encourage the presence of natural wildlife.
We aim to maintain all listed structures to the best of our ability.
Community involvement
We have a number of friends groups who are invaluable in helping us to maintain and improve our open spaces.
We carry out user surveys on a regular basis to determine the needs of the local communities as well as their satisfaction levels on what we do.
We aim to provide and maintain appropriate facilities for all members of our community.
Marketing
- Our web pages are regularly updated with relevant information.
- Our customer care helpline is available from Monday to Friday between 8.30am to 5pm and we can be contacted online 24 hours a day.
- All reports of an emergency nature are dealt with within two hours of receipt.
- We use the notice boards where available in our parks to advertise relevant information.
Management
Management of the maintenance of our open spaces is incorporated with our quality management system, which ensure an audit trail is available for work schedules, problems arising and remedial actions taken.
All our Green Flag sites have comprehensive management plans.
This page was last updated on 1 November 2018