Town Council Services

The activities of a Parish/Town Council fall into three main categories: representing the local community, delivering services to meet local needs, and improving residents’ quality of life and sense of community well being.

To give one example, the Town Council is a statutory consultee for planning applications in Birchwood, and it represents residents views on matters of local importance which can include attending and speaking at the Borough Council’s Development Management Committee Meetings, if necessary.

In its day to day activities, the Town Council works alongside other councils, local housing associations, schools, the shopping centre, and local businesses, to keep the area clean and safe.

We also assist residents with the issues that are important to them, either by addressing the concern they have raised ourselves with the resources that we have available or by signposting them to the relevant organisation or person who can assist them.

The Town Council has a team of six full time Maintenance Operatives who undertake a range of duties within Birchwood.  Our team do not undertake work on the business parks as the Town Council is funded via a precept which is levied via Council Tax from residents.

What do the Maintenance Team do?

This list is not exhaustive and on occasion the team is required to react to emergencies and miscellaneous requirements as deemed necessary by the Council.

• Litter picking

With the exception of the majority of the business areas, and the high speed roads, the team litter picks all main roads under 40mph, local neighbourhood shop car parks and all of the residential footpaths and roadside verges on a scheduled basis. Some are picked once a week, some twice a week, others are picked every two weeks and some every three to four weeks. There are usually at least two full tipper loads of litter bags to dispose of each week, often there are more.

The team is trained in the removal of sharps and needles so if they come across any such items, they can  remove them; rather than having to report them and wait for the Borough Council to attend.

• Visual checks/cleaning of local play areas

The community play areas and multi-use games areas are litter picked each day (Monday to Friday) and visually checked for any obvious issues, such as vandalism to play equipment, which would then be reported on to the relevant landowner; usually the Borough Council.

• Fly tipping

The team checks out reports of fly tipping; if we can remove items we do!

Sometimes we are instructed to leave items in situ in order for the Borough Council or local housing organisations to investigate – which is why some areas do not have fly tipped items or rubbish removed for some time.

Items fly tipped on YHG land is usually removed to their container by BTC’s team.

There are some fly tipped items which we do not have the necessary licence to remove; these have to be dealt with by the relevant landlord (such as fridges/freezers and electrical goods). We report these as necessary.

We do not remove items reported as flytipping which are directly in front, behind or to the side of a property as the householder may have made arrangements with a third party for collection.

• Dog waste

Although it is not the responsibility of the Town Council to clean up after irresponsible dog owners; occasionally the team will remove some waste if it is deemed to be in an area where it is almost unavoidable that it will be stood in; such as outside a school gate.

• Litter bins

There are 40+ litter bins in the area that our team empty at least twice weekly; on a Monday and Friday. (In some areas, such as Birchwood Forest Park, there are additional litter bins that the Borough Council has the responsibility for emptying.)

• Shrub cutting (with landowner’s permission)

Where we have permission, the team will undertake shrub cutting/scraping and blowing work to keep footpaths safe, open and passable.

Given the size of Birchwood and the nature of the area, with such a large amount of greenery, this takes up a lot of resource, so the Town Council has to allocate its resources accordingly.  Some of the larger cutting jobs will require all staff which takes them off the litter picking rota.  This is why the team usually undertakes cutting work on certain days of the week.  It can also be weather dependent.

The team has to be particularly careful during the nesting season, so as not to disturb any nesting birds.  Before any cutting work takes place an assessment is carried out, checking for nesting birds.

Cutting work is permitted during the nesting season if it is a health and safety issue, for example a hedge is causing an obstruction on the highway (eg road or footpath) an it restricts vehicle or pedestrian movements.  However, this is still subject to checking the area thoroughly for nesting birds.

As a general rule we do not deal with much of the vegetation for which Your Housing Group has responsibility, as their contractors undertake the shrub and tree maintenance in those areas.  However, on occasion, the team will do some pre-agreed work, mainly for health and safety reasons.

• Footpath scraping

This is undertaken on an ad hoc basis when necessary and if time is available in the schedule.

• Leaf blowing

Birchwood Town Council’s team undertake leaf blowing during the autumn and winter months.  This is needed on a regular basis due to the extensive foliage.

Leaves will often be blown into bushes where they will mulch down. In some instances the team has no choice but to brush up, bag and remove the leaves to dispose of them; due to the amount of trees and shrubbery throughout Birchwood, just one road can create a few tonnes of leaves, which is why it is not practical to remove them in all cases.

• Hanging baskets

We look after hanging baskets around the shopping centre and the entrance to the high school which all need to be watered 2-3 times a week dependent on the weather.

• Planters

We have installed around 14 planters in Birchwood, all of which need to be filled, maintained and watered.

• Roundabout cleaning

We will clear each of the small roundabouts in Birchwood during the year.  This includes, cleaning and scraping.

We do not undertake weed spraying as it is the responsibility of the landowner.

• Graffiti removal

This work is undertaken when required and we are able to do it.  Offensive graffiti will be removed as soon as possible, and/or reported to the Borough Council where we are unable to remove it.

Sometimes this can be a very time-consuming task depending on the surface and the type of ‘drawing’ material that has been used.

There are some places where we cannot clean graffiti, including on private property and where the surface would potentially be damaged either with a jet-spray or cleaning chemicals.

• Gritting

In winter the team collect loose grit from Warrington Borough Council to deploy when needed during the winter season.  We spread grit around high risk areas such as traffic light crossings, schools, slopes, the Medical Centre, bridges, local shops etc.

The grit bins around the area are usually filled by WBC.  On occasion our team might have to top them up.

• Bus stop maintenance

We maintain two bus stops in the area owned by the Town Council this includes graffiti removal, cleaning and painting. These bus stops currently require some significant maintenance – to be undertaken as soon as possible.

If one of the other bus stops is vandalised and glass is smashed, although it is the responsibility of another organisation, the team will clear it up as soon as possible as it is a public safety issue and report it to the appropriate person(s).

• Bulb planting

We planted approximately 2000 spring bulbs at the Fire station roundabout and are looking to roll this out (with the landowners permission) in other areas.

• Notice boards

The Town Council has recently replaced its existing noticeboards and is working with Birchwood C of E School to install one in Oakwood.

The team keeps the information updated on the boards and cleans/maintains them when necessary.

• Jet washing

As the Town Council owns the land and grounds around the Youth and Community Centre adjacent to the Town Council offices (the only piece of land in addition to our own car park and offices that it owns) the team undertakes work to maintain the area around the building; e.g. repairing damaged paving, jet washing the pathways, mowing the grass and cutting the hedge.

• Equipment and tools

Members of the team are fully trained and certificated in the work that they undertake. The training includes the maintenance and servicing of equipment. We complete all basic maintenance and safety checks of tools and equipment in house. Occasionally we will take a piece of equipment to a specialist supplier if there is a fault that the team is unable or unqualified to fix.

• Work vans

We complete basic maintenance, safety checks and cleaning/jet washing of our fleet of work vans. Each van has a daily check before going on to the road to ensure tyres, lights, washers, etc. are all okay.

• Trolleys

The team report abandoned trolleys for collection – occasionally bringing damaged trolleys back to the office for collection.

• General maintenance

We undertake painting, decorating and general maintenance to the Parkers farm site and offices.

• Papers delivery

Delivery of monthly papers, letters, etc., as necessary to Council Members.

• Emergencies

We also react to any emergency calls from residents that we are equipped to deal with such as broken glass, tree falls, needles and sharps (staff are trained in needles and sharps procedures) and fly tipping.

• Miscellaneous issues

The Town Council sometimes gets called upon to assist with various ad hoc issues. We might be called upon to try to reunite people with lost property, help in the search for a local vulnerable missing person, catch a chicken that has got loose, take a lost animal to the vets, move a large piece of equipment for a community group, take down illegal posters and banners that are causing safety issues, and so on.

Members of the team assist on the day at the annual Birchwood Carnival.

The above is not an exhaustive list of what the Town Council does, but it gives some insight into the various types of work that the team undertakes as part of their duties.