A service that cuts the grass for many of Derbyshire’s schools has transferred to Vertas Derbyshire Ltd, a joint venture set up with Suffolk County Council.
The service provides grass cutting services to more than 200 schools across the county, 230 council properties and a few other organisations. The transfer means that the service will benefit from working in a commercial way and will deliver better value for money.
Council cleaning and caretaking services transferred to Vertas on 1 September 2020 as part of the authority's enterprising council approach. By also transferring the grounds maintenance service a better package of services will be available to schools and other organisations.
Derbyshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Corporate Services, Councillor Angelique Foster, said: “We decided last year that we would look for other organisations to run several of our services, grounds maintenance being one of them, as part of our enterprising council approach.
“After considering all our options we decided to transfer this service to Vertas Derbyshire Ltd, as this gives a stronger offer to our schools.
“Vertas is wholly owned by the public sector which is the best possible option for the service, and gives good value for money for council tax payers.
“Schools and other customers will be able to have one provider for all their cleaning, caretaking and grass cutting needs, which I am sure will be welcomed by them all.”