Purpose

Approval is required to award the contract for
the Arboricultural Maintenance and Tree Planting Framework
2026–2030, following completion of a Competitive Flexible
Procedure procurement. The framework will ensure the Council has
compliant arrangements in place to deliver statutory tree
maintenance, planting, and post-planting care across the borough,
supporting environmental objectives and achieving value for
money.

Content

RESOLVED:
To approve the award
of the Arboricultural Framework
agreement to 4 bidders (listed in Appendix 1), for a period of 4
years from 1st April 2026 to 31 March 2030.
 
Reasons For Decision 
 
The Council has statutory duties under the
Highways Act 1980 (s.41) and the Occupiers’ Liability Act
1985 to manage its tree stock safely and maintain the public
highway. Meeting these obligations requires access to specialist
arboricultural skills, equipment, and
resources that cannot be delivered cost-effectively in-house.
 
The Council aims to increase tree canopy
coverage across Council-owned public spaces from the current 30%
(as identified by GLA figures in the London Urban Plan) in line
with the Mayor of London’s 2050 target. A significant
milestone was reached in 2022 with the planting of 5,000 new trees,
representing the largest single investment in the borough’s
history. Funding sources include internal budgets, government
grants, developer contributions, sponsorship, and innovative
options such as crowdfunding and green carbon credits.
 
The current arboricultural framework, established in 2022, has
delivered strong value for money, resilience, and community benefit
through engagement with local and regional SMEs. Continuing a
multi-supplier framework model will retain this competition and
flexibility, ensuring the Council can respond efficiently to
emergency works, peak workloads, and changing service needs.
 
The new framework will enable the continued
delivery of high-quality tree maintenance and planting services
across streets, parks, housing estates, and open spaces. These
services underpin the Council’s environmental and climate
commitments by improving air quality, biodiversity, and shade
provision, and by supporting the Mayor of London’s 2050 tree
canopy expansion target.
 
The option to bring the service in-house was
reviewed through detailed feasibility studies (2021 and 2025). Both
concluded that insourcing would require significant capital
investment, training, and management capacity, resulting in higher
costs and reduced operational flexibility. A market-based,
multi-supplier framework therefore represents the best-value and
lowest-risk option for service continuity.
 
The procurement was carried out fully in line
with the Procurement Act 2023, using a compliant two-stage Flexible
Competitive Procedure advertised through the Find a Tender Service
and the London Tenders Portal. This ensured transparency, equal
treatment, and effective market engagement. Tenders were evaluated
on a 60 % quality / 40 % price basis to secure a balance of
technical excellence, environmental management, and social value
against cost.
 
The new four-year framework (2026 - 2030) will
operate on a Schedule of Rates call-off basis with no guaranteed
spend, allowing the Council to manage activity within existing
revenue and capital budgets. It provides the flexibility,
resilience, and professional capacity required to maintain
Hackney’s growing tree stock responsibly and sustainably.
 
There is the option for other service areas
within the Council to use the  Streetscene
Arboricultural Maintenance & Tree
Planting/Post Planting Management Framework, where there is an
urgent requirement for work to be undertaken, or to benchmark
prices that they have received for similar projects.
 
Alternative Options
Considered and Rejected
 
The Council considered a range of service
delivery and procurement options as set out in paragraphs 5.6 to
5.11 of this report. These included in-house provision, a
single-supplier model, extending or accessing existing frameworks,
and open-procedure tendering. Following a detailed evaluation,
these alternatives were rejected on grounds of cost, risk, and
limited flexibility. The multi-supplier framework model remains the
most appropriate and best-value approach, ensuring resilience,
competition, and continuity of arboricultural services across all Council
land.