GROUNDS staff at two historic Old Town parks are to be employed by the parish council.

South Swindon parish councillors voted to take on grounds staff at Town Gardens and Queens Park at a meeting on Tuesday night.

However, Michael Dickinson, councillor for Lawn and Badbury Park, questioned the move – saying that he wanted to understand how the grounds staff, who are currently employed by the borough, would be managed.

Clarifying the move, parish clerk Joyce Holman said that the oversight job was currently undertaken by a Swindon Borough Council manager and only took up a tiny portion of that person’s role.

She said: “Because of the small amount of time it takes that particular person to manage those staff it will never be a single role on its own.”

She suggested that the parish clerk could manage the grounds staff.

Coun Neil Hopkins said: “I’d just like to add some understanding of what pension or redundancy liabilities we would have.”

Coun Stan Pajak backed the motion, as council chairman Chris Watts brought it to a vote.

“I totally agree,” Coun Pajak said. “I think we do make that move and we actually take them on.”

Coun Watts said: "One of the key drivers to transferring the staff to the Parish is to protect the staff positions and expertise from forthcoming Borough Council cuts of £30m and 460 redundancies." 

The vote was passed.