Councillor claims Glasgow's parks 'suffering' due to staff decreases

It is thought Glasgow's parks could suffer from a lack of parks and cleansing workers, as we come into the spring and summer months.

Labour councillor Paul Carey claims staffing levels have been dropping due to an "ageing workforce" and "unattractive work".

He claims that during the festive period, parks workers were moved over to the cleansing department to help deal with a shortage, which he says then causes the parks to "suffer".

The number of operational staff within the city’s parks department has dropped from 305 in 2019 to 267 by 2023 - a decrease of around 12.5%.

The number of cleansing workers was thought to have decreased by 102 workers in the same period, however, a recent recruitment drive by Glasgow City Council and the addition of 52 staff in deep clean teams means the figure has improved in 2024.

Calls to make the roles more attractive

Councillor Carey says he wants the parks to have the attention they deserve by making the roles more attractive.

He said: "Until the administration addresses the problem of workforce in parks and cleansing, we're going to keep having the exact same problem.

"The parks are in a state just now, you only need to walk round them and you see the rubbish in them and the bins overflowing.

"The workforce in the parks has shrunk dramatically and what they do at Christmas time is they'll take the park workers and put them into cleansing to catch up in that department.

"It means the parks suffer.

"The grass is getting cut less, the rubbish is getting picked up less.

"Major parks like Kelvingrove aren't getting the attention they need in the last ten years, and as a matter of fact, it's getting worse."

Glasgow City Council refutes that there is any issue with staffing in Glasgow's parks and that recent recruitment drives are underway to employ more cleansing staff.

'We now have 470 staff working routinely'

A spokesperson for Glasgow City Council said: ”The council has faced enormous financial challenges in recent years and there will continue to be significant budget pressures in the years ahead.

“However, we continue to deploy available resources as efficiently and as effectively as possible and frontline environmental services remain a key priority for the council.

“Thanks to recent recruitment and the introduction of deep clean teams, we now have 470 staff working routinely to remove waste from public spaces all across Glasgow

“We are not aware of any difficulties with recruitment for our parks team when resources allow for new staff to be brought in.”

Glasgow City Council also stressed that the cleansing and parks teams are not the same as refuse collection workers.

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