Emptying public litter and dog bins, upkeep of green open spaces and footpaths owned by Cheshire East Council, planting and maintenance of key areas such as roundabouts, Congleton Park and other recognised public open spaces, litter picking and removal, cleaning the Market Street and Market toilets, looking after play parks and grounds maintenance in Congleton and the five neighbouring parishes are now the responsibility of Congleton Town Council.
The ten staff responsible for carrying out these duties along with their supervisor transferred from Cheshire East Council to Congleton Town Council on 2 January 2014. Cheshire East Council will now pay Congleton Town Council to carry out these important tasks in and around the town.
Residents may have already noticed the smart new white and green Congleton Town Council vehicles being used by the staff carrying out these tasks in Congleton, Astbury, Brereton, Somerford, Swettenham and Smallwood
Town Clerk, Brian Hogan said: ìThis is a huge commitment for the Town Council. We believe that services can be delivered even more effectively by being managed and located locally and we are delighted that these workers are now part of the Town Council team. The work that these 11 people carry out 365 days a year – often before many of us get up – to keep the town looking good is incredible.
ìThe number of staff delivering the streetscape services has shrunk considerably over the past few years ñ putting great pressure on the existing team to maintain the standards people expect. Although we are not in a position to take on more people, we plan to invest in better equipment to assist the team to carry out their work.î
To put some figures on the scale of the work undertaken by the team they are responsible for looking after:-
- 11 play areas in Congleton and one in Brereton
- 844 square metres of flower beds and 8,000 square metres of shrub beds
- 120,732 square metres of Playing Fields:
- Emptying at least 120 bins a day
The team supervisor, Ruth Boffey, who has also transferred to the Town Council said: ìWe have had a great welcome from the staff at the Town Hall and although there arenít any more hours in the day we are all determined to carry on doing our very best for the people of Congleton and look forward to working with Town Hall staff and councillors to deliver the Town Councilís vision of making Congleton an even more attractive place for people to live, work and visit.î
The eleven staff that have transferred to the Town Council are ñ Ruth Boffey, James Bibby, Terry Davies, Kevin Duffey, Simon Farrall, David Foster, Mick Pritchard, Rob Serwin, John Tryno, Andrew Turnock and Peter Whiston.
To contact the Town Council about any of the Streetscape Services tel: – 01260 270350 ext 6 email info@congletontowncouncil.co.uk or visit the web site www.congleton-tc.gov.uk
