The Bromley Council Executive met to discuss contract awards and service provisions, including approving contracts for the Bellegrove Housing Development and facilities management at the Churchill Court ¹ Civic Centre. The council also agreed in principle to extend the contract for parks management and grounds maintenance services with idverde, and approved the procurement of a new parking contract in collaboration with the London Borough of Bexley.

Bellegrove Housing Development

The Executive approved the award of the main construction contract for the Bellegrove Housing Development, a project aimed at increasing the supply of affordable housing in the borough. The Director of Housing, Planning, Property and Regeneration was delegated authority to approve grant funding for the site and execute legal documentation. The capital programme allocation for the project will remain at £29 million until completion, to accommodate costs that are yet to be finalised following the detailed design (RIBA stage 4² to RIBA stage 7³).

The Bellegrove development, located in St Paul's Cray, will consist of 69 units in two blocks, including 13 supported living accommodation dwellings managed by Adult Social Care, and 55 dwellings for general needs housing. The development aims to enhance the public realm with landscaping, a playground, external lighting, and pathways. 10% of units will be M4(3) compliant, meaning they are accessible.

Ward Councillors Wiffen and Price commented:

We are really pleased that the Council is at the point of approval of contractors and look forward to this well needed social housing in the borough coming to life. Hopefully this process acts as good learning to significantly increase in borough social housing supply. We want to thank the team involved for their hard work and diligence in getting us to this stage. We look forward to working with the awarded contractor on their social value offer to our community as they develop our social housing and a visual asset.

Total Facilities Management for Churchill Court

The Executive approved the award of a ten-year service contract, with an option to extend for a further five years, for the provision of facilities and building management services at the Churchill Court Civic Centre. The successful bidder, detailed in the Part 2 report (not publicly available), will provide services including contract management, planned maintenance, helpdesk and CAFM⁴ system, security, cleaning, and building safety compliance. The Director of Housing, Planning, Property and Regeneration, in consultation with other officers, has the authority to trigger a break clause at year 5 or apply the 5-year contract extension.

Following a suggestion from the Chairman of the Executive Resources and Contracts PDS Committee, the Executive also requested that officers consider consolidating the 29 existing KPIs⁵ and advise the Chairman of the outcome.

Parks Management and Grounds Maintenance Service

The Executive agreed in principle to extend the contract for parks management and grounds maintenance services with idverde for a further eight years, from 1 April 2027 to 31 March 2035. The estimated annual value of the service is detailed in the Part 2 report (not publicly available). Officers will develop detailed options for the contract extension, including efficiencies, for a formal decision in July 2026, with pre-decision scrutiny from the Environment & Community Services PDS Committee in June 2026.

The council is custodian of 28km2 of such sites, including 121 parks, 45 heathland, meadow or woodland sites, 52 allotments and 17 cemeteries or closed churchyards.

Parking Services Contract

The Executive approved proceeding with the procurement of a new parking contract, with an approximate value of £20 million for the full life value. The new contract, covering parking enforcement and associated services, is proposed to commence in April 2027 for a period of 10 years. The Executive also approved renewing the Shared Services Collaboration Agreement for Parking Services with the London Borough of Bexley until 2038, aligning with the new parking contract.

The joint working agreement between Bromley and Bexley has been in operation since 2013 and has provided efficiencies in terms of expenditure savings and resource sharing. Councillor Nicholas Bennett J.P., Portfolio Holder for Transport, Highways & Road Safety, is quoted in the Parking Services Report as saying that the new contract will:

encourage transformation ideas to the service.