Royal Parks (Hansard, 18 July 1991)

§ Mr. Heseltine

I am pleased to able to announce today two major initiatives aimed at improving the quality of the royal parks for those who use them.

The first is a review, to be carried out by a group under the chairmanship of Dame Jennifer Jenkins, which will concentrate in the first place on Hyde park and Kensington gardens. The second is the contracting out, from February next year, of the ground maintenance and related work in eight of the royal parks.

Hyde park and Kensington gardens are enjoyed by millions of people—Londoners and tourists alike. But we need to be sure they are really providing what people want today. London's royal parks should fully reflect the city's status as a major world capital. Quality and excellence should be on display for all to see.

I believe we need to take an open minded and imaginative look at what the parks are for and what they should provide. I have therefore asked Dame Jennifer Jenkins to chair a review group whose task will be to consider the role and use of Hyde park and Kensington gardens in the present, in the past and in the future.

The members of the review group bring a wealth of experience and expertise. They will produce a report for a conference under ministerial chairmanship early in 1992, following which new policy guidance will be drawn up.

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The royal parks have a well deserved reputation for high quality horticulture. We want to develop this, and where possible improve standards. However, opportunities for this are limited in the public sector. In the private sector there is the enterprise and initiative to develop this horticultural excellence and bring it to a wider public. We therefore wish to help raise standards in the contracting industry as a whole by giving the private sector the chance to do high-quality work in the important locations that the royal parks provide. Once firms gain more experience of working to higher standards, they can use that experience so that the rest of the country can benefit. The Government have therefore decided to put out to tender the ground maintenance and related work currently undertaken in-house in the royal parks. The gardens at Buckingham palace and Clarence house will be excluded from these arrangements and responsibility for these gardens will be transferred to the royal household.

The contracts will be let in about six months time. They will be drawn up in a way which ensures high horticultural standards. I hope that those commercial bodies with reputations for good horticultural quality in related areas such as nurseries will wish to join in tendering for this prestige work as well as firms already working in this area.

Staff currently employed by the Department in the royal parks will be entitled to civil service rates of redundancy compensation, and we will want the chosen contractors to offer all the staff a job interview. Staff who occupy lodges in the parks will be able to remain in occupation.

Overall management of the parks will remain the Secretary of State's responsibility. In so far as that relates to horticultural quality, I am very pleased to say that the president of the Royal Horticultural Society has accepted an invitation to advise the Secretary of State on matters of horticultural quality in the parks both before and after the contracts are let.

This decision represents both a challenge and an opportunity. It is an important point in the history of the royal parks.