Wiltshire Council awards new Streetscene contract to maintain and improve public spaces

Following a robust procurement process, Wiltshire Council has awarded its new Streetscene contract to Idverde, the current contractors.

Streetscene covers a wide range of services, including grounds maintenance, grass cutting, street cleaning, delivering election materials and keeping play areas safe and tidy.

The contract, which has an annual value of £4.5m, will begin on 1 December 2022 and runs for five years, with a possible extension of up to five years to a full contract term of ten years.

The new contract will bring the council a £400,000 annual saving against the current spend, and will also see year on year carbon reduction until the contract is carbon neutral by 2030. It also includes targets for environmentally managed land areas and a range of social value benefits, too.

Cllr Dr Mark McClelland, Cabinet Member for Streetscene, said: "We're delighted to be working with Idverde once again on this new contract, which could be worth up to £45m over the potential ten years of the contract.

"Streetscene is such an important service, as it's something that people see every day - from keeping our streets clean and amenity grass areas cut, to encouraging wildflowers to thrive and ensuring play areas are safe - this contract is an important one for us and our residents.

"As well as delivering value for money, it was very important to us that this contract met our climate targets to be carbon neutral by 2030, as set our in our business plan.

"We look forward to this contract term beginning in December."

Most of the financial savings in this contract have been achieved through making the contract outcome-based; the council advises Idverde of the expected delivery requirements and the contractor is responsible for driving efficiencies. Idverde will also operate services from the council's depots to allow the council to retain the rentable income and also deliver carbon savings, waste reductions and cost sharing through depots collection.

The carbon benefits are being delivered by the electrification of the fleet and by moving to alternative fuels for machinery, such as the biofuel hydrotreated vegetable oil. The move to more sustainable land management is also built into the contract with a target to support fauna and flora through schemes such as wildflower areas.

The contract will also look to include community support, with Idverde to provide Streetscene activity days, equipment or training.