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Our Service Standards

Our service standards are the procedures to which our Parks Service works to, and the levels of service to which we aspire to. They cover the maintenance and management of parks, open spaces and play facilities within Haringey. Our service standards are in line with the Green Flag standards, which we have adopted and work towards.

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A welcoming place

All parks within Haringey are covered under the Parks, Gardens and Open Spaces Bylaws, Greater London Council 1932 unless a specific set of bylaws have been drawn up for a particular site. All bylaws are displayed on park notice boards. Bylaws cover issues ranging from dog control, ball games, fireworks, noise and barbecues. The bylaws are currently being reviewed by the Parks Constabulary and will be reissued later in 2006.
We aim to provide good signage to, and in, the park site
We aim to provide equal access for all members of the community and have recently audited all our main sites for disability access as part of a corporate wide drive. Issues arising from this audit are currently being addressed.

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Healthy, safe and secure

We aim to provide equipment and facilities that are safe to use.
Parks staff carry out daily visual checks on all playgrounds. Our managers complete a playground inspection inline with our Quality Management System on a monthly basis. Staff trained to Royal Society of the Prevention of Accidents - RoSPA - standards (see link to RoSPA website in external links section below), also carry out detailed inspections on a quarterly and annual basis.
A number of our parks have permanent members of staff based on site. Those sites that aren’t staffed on a permanent basis are visited by our mobile team of attendants on a regular basis. The Parks Constabulary also visits the parks daily as part of their regular patrols or in the event of a callout.
The Parks Constabulary will lock and unlock sites that are not staffed. Where otherwise stated we aim to open locked sites at dawn each day and normally commence closing half an hour before sunset. For more detailed information on opening and closing times please see the closing times document on the parks facilities page. Vehicle access gates on many sites will normally be kept locked and are only opened for authorised vehicles.
To encourage people to clean up after their dog, we provide red bins for dog waste. In some parks we are also able to provide bags for dog waste.
We have Health & Safety policies in place to help ensure our staff follow good working practices
Four of our parks have toilet facilities. These are included as part of another function of the park such as a café or museum. All toilets are maintained and cleaned on a daily basis. A toilet review is currently being undertaken and outcomes of this such as improvements will be implemented over the next few years.

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Clean and well maintained

On site operatives clear litter from the parks as and when required. The Parks Service also has a mobile Hygiene Team that visits park sites either daily or weekly depending on the size of the park. Cleanliness is regularly monitored through our Quality Management System.
Winter and summer work schedules are drawn up in each of the four operational areas – east, west, central and specialist services covering cemeteries. These works include grass cutting, bedding, pruning, weed spraying and tree maintenance. Working practices comply with industry standards and staff are provided with photographic examples of the standards to which we aspire to, which have been compiled with their extensive involvement. Grounds maintenance is monitored through our Quality Management System and reviewed at regular meetings.

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Sustainability

We have an environmental policy in place
We aim to minimise pesticide use
We challenge our suppliers to provide plants grown in peat free environments and have recently run trials for sourcing the most appropriate peat free mixes.
We aim to recycle all our green waste. Currently around 90% of it is recycled on site; the rest goes to North London Waste for recycling.
Our service standards aim for high quality horticultural standards.
We aim to use environmentally sustainable methods in our parks maintenance. We leave grass cuttings on the ground; and we cover our beds with chipping to reduce the use of herbicides.

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Conservation and heritage

Where appropriate each park has a section where we try to keep it as natural as possible. In these areas we may only cut the grass once a year, we will leave dead trees where they are if it is safe to do so, or we may lay them down to encourage the presence of natural wildlife.
We aim to maintain all listed buildings to the best of our ability.

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Community involvement

We have a number of Friends Groups who are invaluable in helping us to maintain and improve our open spaces.
We carry out user surveys on a regular basis to determine the needs of the local communities as well as their satisfaction levels on what we do.
We aim to provide and maintain appropriate facilities for all members of our community.

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Marketing

Our website is regularly updated with relevant information
Our parks customer care helpline is available Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm, and we can be emailed 24 hours a day
We use the notice boards available in our parks to advertise relevant information

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Management

Management of the maintenance of our open spaces is incorporated with our Quality Management System, which ensure an audit trail is available for work schedules, problems arising and remedial actions taken.
All our green flag sites have comprehensive management plans as do other major parks. Management plans for parks submitted for the Green Flag Award are all available to read.

For further information please contact parkscustomercare@haringey.gov.uk - 020 8489 5662

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