Costs of planters in Hereford City
Case reference FOI2022/00340
Published 5 May 2022
Request
Q1. What are the plans for watering these planters and removing litter from them?
Q2. How much water will be needed and what are the transport costs and labour costs for doing it and of course installing them?
Q3. What is the overall associated carbon footprint and how does it compare with, for example, planting trees?
Q4. What is the business case considered for this project which supported the investment?
Response
Q1. What are the plans for watering these planters and removing litter from them?
Herefordshire Council have explored options for the maintenance and watering of the planters and have recently entered into an agreement to provide a grant to Hereford in Bloom to carry out this service. Hereford in Bloom (a registered charity) are a group of volunteers committed to ensuring that Hereford protects and enhances its natural environment. See below for further details.
Q2. How much water will be needed and what are the transport costs and labour costs for doing it and of course installing them?
Within the planters is a water tank that stores water for use by the trees and thus reducing the frequency of watering required. The trees need to be watered once a fortnight in the period from March through to September. Each tree will require approximately 25 litres of water each fortnight, to be fed into the tank from the watering tube. In particularly hot and dry weather this volume and frequency may need to be increased. Planters with underplanting around the base, those in the Cathedral and River Wye Quarter, will require additional watering in dry periods where there has not been rain for 14 days. Plants will need to be watered around the base, with water applied slowly and thoroughly to ensure it reaches all parts of the soil and plant roots. As with the trees the frequency of watering will need to be increased in particularly hot and dry weather.
The design and delivery of the planters were commissioned through the Public Realm Services Contract with Balfour Beatty Living Places (BBLP). BBLP engaged WSP to undertake the design of the planters.
Within the design and technical element of this project the activities included:
· Identification of suitable locations
· Highway safety checks
· Selection and approval of suitable tree species
· Tree nursery selection and quality control visits to nurseries
· Development of planting and watering detail
· Identification of and procurement of suitable sub-contractors.
The cost of installing the planters is as follows:
City Link Road Planters:
BBLP Technical Input - £21,387.44
WSP Design - £18,129.37
Construction - £213,678.88
Risk Register - £7,903.37
Cathedral & River Wye Quarter Planters:
BBLP Technical Input - £17,484.69
WSP Design - £11,421.89
Construction - £219,649.02
Risk Register - £5,781.32
The nature of the installations requires specific tree species, tree size (girth, height and form) and installation detail (anchoring system, irrigation and root barriers) suitable for the proposed locations together with operational requirements for working within the public highway. This introduces a number of requirements beyond that of a domestic tree planting project.
The watering costs are as follows:
Herefordshire Council have an approved budget of £60,000 per annum to provide all watering and maintenance of the planters. Maintenance includes:
· Checking for damage, disease or pests
· topping up bark mulch
· thinning where necessary
· pruning dead/damage wood
· firm/straightening loose plants
· fertilising shrubs
· cutting back ornamental grasses
· removing dead stems
· weeding
· control of litter
Q3. What is the overall associated carbon footprint and how does it compare with, for example, planting trees?
Carbon calculations for these works were not undertaken and therefore the figures requested cannot be provided.
Above ground planters have been introduced in locations where in ground tree planting was either not feasible due to below ground obstructions (City Link Road), or not practical due to the need for the street layout to be flexible (Cathedral & River Wye Quarter). This package of green infrastructure elements provide an opportunity to make a considerable enhancement to the soft landscaping and biodiversity within the city centre area.
The tree planters have introduced green infrastructure into the city centre that can accommodate these constraints. Increased planting makes these areas more attractive for visitors and residents, increases city centre biodiversity, as well as positive wellbeing impacts of green infrastructure.
Q4. What is the business case considered for this project which supported the investment?
Hereford City Centre Improvements are designed to support the local economy and enhance the retail environment. The refurbishment scheme is contributing to the delivery of the Herefordshire Streetscape Strategy to create an attractive, vibrant city centre to help support existing businesses and create new opportunities to encourage more visitors and retailers.
As the City becomes a more healthy and vibrant place to be, this will increase the number of visitors i.e. the footfall, and have a positive impact on local businesses, in turn increasing jobs created and providing a positive boost to the local economy.
The original HCCI project comprised:
a. High Town refurbishment
b. St Owen's Street cycle contraflow
c. City centre on street parking charging (complete)
d. Resident parking in areas around the city centre (complete)
On 21 July 2016, Cabinet considered consultation feedback and authorised the implementation of the proposals for the Hereford city centre improvements project. This decision can be viewed on the Herefordshire Council website via the following link:
http://councillors.herefordshire.gov.uk/mgIssueHistoryHome.aspx?IId=50017877&Opt
Two phases of the original High Town public realm refurbishment scheme set out in the cabinet report above were initially delivered along with the implementation of on street parking charging and residents parking elements. A feasibility business case was developed to support a capital funding bid to continue the development of the HCCI project. As part of the request for further capital funding the extents of the HCCI project were extended to include an area to the west of High Town. This includes Broad Street, King Street, Bridge Street and other smaller streets in the vicinity referred to as the Cathedral and River Wye Quarter. The inclusion of the HCCI project of this scope within the Capital Programme 2019/20 was approved by Full Council on 15 February 2019. This decision can be viewed on the Herefordshire Council website via the following link:
http://councillors.herefordshire.gov.uk/mgIssueHistoryHome.aspx?IId=50029532
A bid was submitted to The Marches LEP for funding for the HCCI project in June 2020 from the Getting Building Fund. The bid was selected by the LEP as one of the projects to be funded and was allocated £3m funding, to be matched by £3m from the council's Capital funding. By accepting the grant funding this reduced the overall requirement for council capital funding for the project by £2.5m.
Following the award of the grant funding, the cabinet member infrastructure and Transport took a decision on 3rd December 2020 which approved the continuation of the public realm improvement scheme in the High Town area and the development of a public realm improvement scheme for the Cathedral and River Wye Quarter. The decision also authorised acceptance of the £3m grant from the Marches LEP and that the council's capital programme be updated accordingly.
The cabinet member decision taken on 3rd December 2020 outlined the following HCCI elements as the initial programme of works for development and delivery within a budget of £1.652m:
a. High Town Area (£100k) - to undertake a review of the existing High Town design, to include a review of the material palette, street furniture and the layout of hard and soft landscaping. To evaluate the elements of public realm completed to date to consider and design further enhancements or amendments.
b. Cathedral & River Wye Quarter (£150K) - to develop an outline design for improvements to the area and to undertake consultation on the proposals. Following the completion of the outline design, a detailed design will be developed taking on feedback received from consultation which will lead to construction.
c. Streetscape & Green Infrastructure (£1402K) - design and delivery of:
· Street furniture including benches and bins
· Trees and soft landscaping
· Public art
· Provisions to maintain public safety including the risk of errant vehicles
· Cycle storage provision
· Street lighting
· Improvements to the facilities for markets and events
· Measures to improve air quality
In the event that the expenditure on the design review, Cathedral and River Wye Quarter outline design and streetscape elements as forecast was not sufficient to meet the required spend profile of the grant funding, additional paving materials were to be procured based on the existing High Town design. Total anticipated spend in 2020/2021 was £1,505,000 which was consistent with the minimum spend of £1,500,000 required by the conditions of the LEP grant.
HCCI Spend 2020/2021:
As a result of a number of issues surrounding some streetscape and green infrastructure elements and a review of the Cathedral and River Wye quarter design commission, the required spend of £1,505,000 was not achieved and a Freedom and Flexibilities arrangement was entered into with the Marches LEP to manage the risk of loss of funding.
This arrangement resulted in the following spend in 2020/21 as follows:
LEP Spend - HCCI project - £160,956.66
HC Spend - HCCI project - £17,536.00
Freedom & Flexibilities Spend (Marlbrook School) - £1,389,000.00
Total Spend (2020/21) - £1,567,492.66
This arrangement ensured no 2020/21 LEP grant was lost and enabled freedom and flexibilities monies to be available for HCCI in 2021/2022.
HCCI Delivery 2021/2022:
A briefing with cabinet members on the approach to the delivery of the HCCI in the 2021/22 financial year was undertaken in May 2021. This identified a desire to reconsider the elements of the project to be taken forward and in particular the scale of investment in the High Town paving works.
Following this briefing, the Marches LEP was approached to explore potential changes to the scope of works and expenditure profile. The LEP indicated a willingness to consider alternatives and a draft second freedom and flexibilities letter was received in June setting out a proposed programme to ensure the remaining LEP grant funding is spent in 2021/2022.
A further briefing was held with cabinet members in September to confirm what elements from that letter were acceptable.
To meet the LEP minimum spend requirements for 2021/22 and 2022/23 and to demonstrate a cohesive and coherent programme the Cabinet agreed to include further elements into the HCCI programme including the purchase of planters for City Link Road and Cathedral and River Wye Quarter. The package of streetscape and green infrastructure elements provided an opportunity to make a considerable enhancement to the soft landscaping and biodiversity within the city centre area. This has been achieved through a significant increase in tree planting, using above ground planters where necessary to maintain flexibility and as a result of significant below ground obstructions.
The decision can be viewed on the Herefordshire Council website, via the following link:
https://councillors.herefordshire.gov.uk/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?ID=8255
There were further decisions made which set out the case for purchase of planters and these can be viewed on the Herefordshire Council website via the following links:
https://councillors.herefordshire.gov.uk/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?ID=8287
https://councillors.herefordshire.gov.uk/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?ID=8374
https://councillors.herefordshire.gov.uk/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?ID=8375
Documents
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