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Conservative Neglect of Our Local Parks

Parks to be proud of debate – Cllr Paul Scott’s speech to Croydon Council on 25th January 2010 seconding the motion:

“This Council is very pleased with the public response to the democratic ‘Parks to be Proud of’ vote and looks forward to a further consultation with residents in deciding how to spend the allocated funds of £1.5 million for park improvements. The Council also welcomes 'the Government and the Council's' continued investment in our parks and playgrounds and the Borough’s success in both London in Bloom and Britain in Bloom, in the large city category.”

“We all welcome investment in our parks, and with most of the funding for ‘Parks to be proud of’ coming from the Government we are particularly delighted that yet again Croydonians are benefiting under Labour.  But then of course our parks really do need a boost.  Satisfaction with Croydon’s parks nose-dived by 20% in a single year under this Conservative administration.

As a Woodside Councillor I am of course delighted that South Norwood Country Park will be one of those to benefit, but I am seriously concerned about the flawed process that has been used to decide which parks will receive funding.

This a crude, manipulative and simplistic way of deciding priorities.  It is poor Governance aimed at headlines rather actual needs: Lazy, Cllr Fisher, Incompetent, Cllr Hollands and Bumptious hot air, Cllr Mead.

I strongly support working with the community to identify and tackle problems. But in this case a few of the big name parks have been selected without really asking what local residents priorities are. 

Perhaps that is why Less than 4% of the electorate voted, (who knows how many of them actually knew the consultation was happening?)  The list of options was extremely limited, with the selection criteria questionable to say the least and the chances of getting a balanced vote are nonexistent when some parks have friends groups, high profiles, well healed local communities with internet access and time on their hands.

But why do I contest the money is being misdirected?  Well let’s take as examples some of the less well known parks and playgrounds in Woodside:
* On a recent visit to the kiddies kingdom on Davidson Road, I found it filthy, strewn with beer cans and bottles, three of the four swings missing and the fourth broken, safety matting missing exposing bare concrete around play equipment.
* Brickfields Meadows, the only open area for very deprived estate.  Working with the community we had started to turn that park from a glorified tip to a local asset.  All that work has stopped and people were not even given the opportunity to vote for it receive the investment it so desperately needs
* Apsley Road ‘playground’ with tired and a frankly dull climbing frames surrounded by concrete walls – not that attractive, but padlocked shut when I visited yesterday!
* And of course Love Lane Green.  Sold by the Tories to property developers who have fenced it off and let this once pleasant little local park go to wrack and ruin.  New powers to CPO and the adoption of the Croydon Plan in 2006 following a hard thought battle to retain the Greens Metropolitan Open Land status opened the way at last to restore the local park.  And yet despite lots of hot air and promises from Cllr Hollands, what has been delivered so far – nothing!  First he said his officers were to busy cancelling South Norwood’s new sports centre and patching up the old one, and since then he has just dithered, blaming everyone but himself whilst local youngsters have nowhere to play but in the road.

Yes I welcome the Parks to Be Proud of Scheme, and yes it great for Croydon to win a Britain in Bloom award (even if the flowers disappeared almost as soon as the judges had left), but let us all be honest,
* Honest about were the funding is coming from
* Honest with the people of Croydon when we consult them
And
* Honest about what the real priorities are for our precious parks and open spaces.

I second the amended motion.”