To approve the council’s Public Realm Services model for market engagement.

The cabinet member for community services and assets introduced the report and highlighted that following the April Cabinet report approving the termination of the current public realm services, the termination had now been enacted ending on 31 May 2026.  It was confirmed that Balfour Beatty Living Places are committed to supporting the transition and this report requests for Cabinet to (a) adopt the public realm services model set out in appendix 1 for the purposes of market engagement and (b) for the Cabinet to delegate authority to the Corporate Director of Economy and Environment to carry out market engagement.  Once this has taken place over the summer, the model will be refined and returned to Cabinet in the autumn to approve a final version of the model for procurement to start January 2025. 

There were no comments from Cabinet members.

Group leaders gave the views of their groups. The change in the Public Realm Services contract was welcomed as well as it going out to tender in due course.  The need to closely monitor the timeline was stated to avoid any slippage.  Concerns were expressed regarding the proposal that schemes up to £100k may be directly awarded through the contract at the Council’s discretion.  It was noted that the Council needs to ensure it doesn’t end up in the same position as before by using large contractors that cannot manage on a local basis.  It was highlighted that the new contract should be outcome focused rather than KPI’s and to have proper resources when services are brought back in house. 

In response to the queries it was noted that market engagement is to encourage a broad range of providers.  The Council has its own framework for small and medium contracts meaning the Council can draw straight from its own framework for contracts.  It will be clear at the procurement stage what the Council expects from contractors and will mean the Council will not be in the position where the contractors mark their own homework.  It was highlighted that lessons have been learned from the previous contract and the KPI’s will be written for the benefit of the Council going forward. 

It was unanimously resolved that:

a)     Cabinet adopt the Public Realm Services model set out in Appendix 1 for the purposes of market engagement

b)     Cabinet delegates authority to the Corporate Director Economy and Environment to carry out market engagement on the Public Realm Services model set out in Appendix 1.