Local Government Act 1988

Legislation which was introduced to ensure local authorities provided services which had been shown to be competitive, primarily by offering activities such as grounds maintenance work out to tender to provide a cost-effective service.

Whilst the principle of ensuring services were effectively providing value for money was sound, the application of the legislation has resulted in significant cost cutting and a reduction in the quality-of-service provision.

This legislation can be argued to have been the start of the demise of parks, sports surfaces and grounds maintenance within the local authority sector and also the private sector, as many public sector workers would migrate into the private sector. Industry training of staff suffered, especially where many contracts had been successful bid for by private grounds maintenance contractors. It took many years for the negative consequences of this to take effect, with initial warning signs of skills shortages starting to be noticeable in the early 2000s.

By 2020 the aging workforce, people retiring early or leaving the industry, limited number of younger people entering the industry and a skills gap within the industry has produced a situation where there is a lack of well qualified and experienced workers to maintain the extent of grounds and pitches to a good standard.