VOLUNTARY guardians of Trafford’s green spaces have warned of a 23-year absence of new flowers when maintenance passes to a private company.

As part of proposed cuts to services across the borough, Trafford Council want to save £2.25 million a year by contracting out the maintenance of parks and other services.

The contract will be issued on a 15-years basis with the opportunity to extend for another eight years.

But the ‘Friends’ voluntary groups that take care of parks throughout the borough have already warned that council maintenance has declined in the past few months – with a dearth of new planting, pruning and litter collections.

Dr Nigel Woodcock, vice chairman of the Friends of Longford Park in Stretford said: “There’s a feeling that it’s not good enough at the moment.

“There doesn’t seem to be much planting or cutting back. There’s a lot of litter around. We’re having to do a lot of our own litter picking.

“How are they going to make these kind of cuts while maintaining any kind of decent standard?

“The amounts they are having to save are astronomical.”

Adrian Beesley, vice chairman of the Friends of Stamford Park in Altrincham said once-colourful displays of spring flowers had been left as empty soil beds, and that meetings with Trafford Councillors and potential contractors last month hadn’t allayed fears that the park could go without fresh bulbs for more than a decade.

“They told us that the standard when the private contractors take over would be the standard they are maintained at now, but in the past six months the parks have been run down.

“The maintenance standards now means no spring planting. That could mean no plants in the park for the next 23 years.”

A spokesman for Trafford Council confirmed the authority was currently partway through the formal contract tendering stages for a partner to deliver a variety of services, including maintenance of council parks. A new partner will be announced after a full evaluation of all the submitted tenders, expected by April 2015 for implementation in July 2015.

Regarding future standards including the provision of spring flowers, the spokesman added that further details could not be disclosed due to the council being partway through the tendering process.