Bromley Council is considering extending its parks management contract with idverde for a further eight years, following the expiration of the initial eight-year term on 31 March 2027. The council is leaning towards extending the contract with idverde because financial modelling suggests that all other options will incur significant cost increases of between 11% and 28%, and all other options also attract financial and operational risks currently outsourced under the existing contractual arrangements.
The potential extension was discussed at the Environment and Community Services Policy Development and Scrutiny Committee meeting on Wednesday 8 October 2025, where a Gateway 0 report outlining various options for the future delivery of parks management and grounds maintenance services was presented.
Parks Management Options
The report considered several options for the future of parks management and grounds maintenance, including:
- Extending the contract with idverde
- Bringing the service in-house
- Forming a Local Authority Trading Company (LATCo)
- Retendering the services
- A hybrid approach with an insourced parks management function and outsourced grounds maintenance
- Shared services with another local authority
The report recommended that the Executive agree in principle to extend the contract with idverde. Officers are expected to develop detailed options for the contract extension, including options to create efficiencies, with a report back to the Executive for formal decision in July 2026.
The proposal for extension includes:
- Retaining the existing specified requirements, unless the Council wishes to direct change as part of the Transformation programme.
- Including the park security requirements within the scope of the idverde contract; this has the benefit of placing responsibility for safety in parks with one contractor.
- Changes to the Performance Management Framework to incentivise responsiveness to issues identified outside of the formal contract monitoring inspections.
- Negotiating clearer terms for the management of income generated through events and concessions to benefit the Council.
The initial eight-year contract with idverde was awarded on 20 November 2018, for parks management and grounds maintenance services commencing on 1 April 2019. The purpose of the contract is to provide a fully managed service for the management and maintenance of the borough's parks, open spaces, countryside sites and greenspace.
Bromley Council is custodian of 28km2 of such sites, including 121 parks, 45 heathland, meadow or woodland sites, 52 allotments and 17 cemeteries or closed churchyards.
The range of services currently provided under this contracting arrangement are broadly categorised as:
- Providing parks management services, including: producing strategies, policies, and operational plans; managing and liaising with stakeholders and managing enquiries and complaints; managing events and concessions; overseeing delegated sports management arrangements and allotments; managing cemeteries and closed churchyards, including administering burials, memorial safety and managing grave maintenance agreements; setting and delivering countryside, biodiversity, and forestry/woodland management plans; delivering an environmental education programme and managing the BEECHE visitor centre; delivering community development services.
- Delivering a programme of grass maintenance, selecting appropriate management regimes to meet the output-based specification. This includes grass cutting in parks,, of circa 1,106 highway verge sites and maintaining sports grounds to the specified standards.
- Providing a programme of cleansing.
- Delivering weed control and invasive species management programmes.
- Maintaining horticultural assets including managing bedding, shrubs, hedgerows and providing a frequency-based cut back along Public Rights of Way.
- Maintaining playgrounds, including servicing play equipment, undertaking safety inspections, maintaining sandpits and paddling pool/boating lakes.
- Managing infrastructure through a programme of inspections and surveys and managing and maintaining drainage assets, seats and benches, waterbodies and goal posts.
- Providing grounds maintenance services at cemeteries and closed churchyards
Note: The financial implications of each of the options considered (extending, in-sourcing, LATCo, retendering, hybrid, shared services) are detailed in the accompanying Part 2 report, which is not available to the public.
