Minutes:
John Twigg and Adam Roberts from Twiggs Grounds Maintenance Ltd, were welcomed to the meeting.
Members were provided with an update on the work undertaken and informed that for the quarter 53 new volunteers had started equating to 285 overall and totalling 1,145 volunteer hours giving a social return of £15,625.85.
It was reported that 46 sessions had been held with 11 existing community groups but that no new groups were being formed and that some older groups were diminishing. 9 collaboration events had taken place with businesses and Berneslai Homes and 366 sacks of waste had been taken away with 4 cases of flytipping being reported back to the council.
Members questioned whether Twiggs had been able to cover all contracted hours with the information regarding being without a member of staff due to injury, it was reported that whilst all hours could not be covered fully, the main events and requests for works were being covered in the area. It was also reported that a schedule of works had been created from the Barnsley MBC Neighbourhoods service which had helped in avoiding duplication or missing something.
The issue around removal of purple volunteer bags and whose responsibility it was to oversee that was raised, members were informed that this was the responsibility of Neighbourhood Services but that Twiggs had helped out during the pandemic to remove purple sacks as and when required.
Members queried the level of training given to new volunteers, whether training on how to deal with sharps for example was provided. It was reported that there was no specific training course but that an informal chat was provided on handing over the volunteer packs.
Members were informed of the positive change in the upsurge in number of volunteers that had been seen since the start of the project in 2014, when it was reported that people had to be enticed in to help and now people voluntarily came forward.
RESOLVED that thanks be given to John Twigg and Adam Roberts for the presentation and update and all the hard work the Twiggs Team were doing in the Dearne Area.