Decision Maker: Cabinet Procurement and Insourcing Committee

Outcome: Awaiting Implementation

Is Key Decision?: Yes

Is Callable In?: Yes

Date of Decision: January 5, 2026

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.