## Neighbourhood Wardens

I wanted to start by thanking the Neighbourhood Wardens for their continued efforts on working with local communities and businesses in giving advice on the COVID-19 regulations.  They have been working extremely hard, frequently talking to all different types of businesses ensuring compliance and taking the appropriate action whenever it has been necessary.

## Environmental Services Contract

All works and services provided by Veolia and Idverde continue to be carried out in line with expectations, the current pandemic does have an impact, but workable solutions behind the scenes continue to be found to ensure that residents of Northampton see little or no disruption to these key services. Our successful chargeable Garden waste scheme income now stands at £1,565,502, around 37273 subscriptions, approx. 53% take up from relevant properties, we are still receiving around 
5-10 subscriptions per day.  
Veolia's Envirogrant scheme has attracted 14 applications, unfortunately 3 applications were received from organisations based outside of the borough so therefore ineligible which has left 11 eligible applications for consideration. Grass Mowing services are now drawing to a close and resources switching to winter maintenance projects.

## Environmental Services (Direct Services) Parks & Open Spaces Team

An additional £50,000 Capital has been made available to improve the play areas at:


Millers Meadow, St Andrews Road

Auckland Close Play Area

Exeter Place Play Area
The play areas that have already been approved for refurbishment are:


Parklands

The Racecourse
The major works on the embankments around the Main Lake at Abington Park have been completed, with just a few minor works to complete.  This essential capital works project cost £250,000.  A very wise investment to ensure the longevity of the lake in Northampton's best known Premier Park. The refurbishment of the Lingswood Skate Park is well under way and should be completed within the next 4 weeks.  This capital project that has cost £100,000 has been very much welcomed by the young people in the areas and the local Neighbourhood Watch Group. Abington Park and Delapre Park have been successful in being re-awarded the Green Flag Award this year and in addition, Bradlaugh Fields Park was entered and has also been successful.  A lot of work has been put into bringing this park up to a standard that would meet the criteria of the judges.  Big thank you must go out to all the Volunteers, Community Payback, idverde and the Park Rangers for making all this possible.  

## Environmental Health

Staff from the food and safety and licensing teams are working hard to ensure that businesses are aware of their legal requirements under the recently updated coronavirus regulations. Patrols to monitor compliance are carried out by Wardens and officers from the team. Generally, levels of compliance are good but a small number of premises are giving cause for concern and if ongoing infringements are found appropriate enforcement action will be taken.

## Councillor Mike Hallam Cabinet Member For Environment