Haringey Friends of Parks Forum 
the network for all the borough's local Friends groups for parks, nature sites, recreation grounds, community gardens and other green open spaces...
Report of HFoPF meeting, November 3rd 2007 at Bruce Castle Museum
Present: Quentin Given (The Paddock), Joan Curtis (Friends of Lordship Rec), Ceri Williams (Friends of Chestnuts), Sally Billot (Friends of Finsbury Park), Michael Cordwell James (Friends of Woodside Park), David Macdonald (Friends of Downhills Park), Ulla Lefmann (Burleigh Road RA/Ducketts Common), David Warren (Friends of Parkland Walk), Adrian Skrebowski (Stationers Park Friends), Jane Warren (Friends of Queens Wood). Paul Ely, Don Lawson and John Morris (LBH Parks Dept) attended from 11am.
Apologies: Dave Morris (Friends of Lordship/Chestnuts), Ros Abrams (CREOS), Joyce Rosser (Friends of Priory Common), Graham Pearce ( The Paddock), Jane Hutchinson and Monica Gort (Friends of Alexandra Park), Matt McCabe (Friends of Belmont Rec).
1. Matters arising from minutes of last meeting:
- Sustainable Haringey: Still ongoing and growing.
- Replacement for Catherine needed as representative on Better Places Partnership
- Events in Parks What has happened to the proposed document?
- Friends questionnaire We were expecting to see the new questionnaire and covering letter in time for discussion at this meeting but have not received it.
2. PARKS REPORTS
Finsbury Park: The Friends chair spoke at Green Flag event and the drumming workshop performed.
Lordship Rec: The Restore the Rec Festival to support the heritage lottery bid was a massive success and the bid has now been handed in by LBH. The Friends are continuing with small projects in the lake area and with the help of a successful bid to breathing spaces are developing a nature trail through woodland.
LBH Response: There is also an application going in to LIFE, a european funding stream, to raise funds for restoring Moselle in the Rec.
The Paddock: Litter collection is improving but litter is still not being collected from all areas of the Paddock. Have met with Ian Holt, the new conservation officer, to discuss management plan. There are still outstanding issues with fencing.
Parkland Walk: There has been general agreement on TFL outline plans after a good period of consultation including the plans being exhibited for an extended period in Hornsey Town Hall. There is a good working relationship with all interested parties including the Friends. Debates continue over cycle barriers which could deter disabled, benches which could encourage undesirable elements and motor barriers which are not in the plan. Deterring motor cycles is important as the primary use of the parkland walk is as a nature reserve so there is discussion on ideas for chicanes to stop the possibility of long straight runs for fast motor cyclists to enjoy. The Parks department has taken over responsibility from TFL for delivering the greenway project in Parkland Walk, Downhills and Chestnuts wnile the money for works is provided by TFL. There is to be a meeting on November 21st.
Woodside Park: The annual Jazz picnic was held with local band and was a big success. There was a positive meeting between Friends and Don Lawson and Tony Healey on solving the issues of stagnation in the park brought up at previous meetings when the feeling of the friends was very downbeat. Bulb planting and general gardening clean up to be held on November 25 with Hariforce, a large team of workers from all areas of the parks department, including management, drawn together when there is a lot of work to be done in one particular place and which acts as a team building exercise and a way of sharing experience. The mushroom house has a new owner who has managed to get a change of lease to residential use. The owner has a good and helpful relationship with friends. Planning permission has been applied for and granted to extend the cafe. Although the plans meet with general approval by friends they are disturbed by the fact that they were not consulted or informed during the planning process.
Downhills Park: Waiting for result of lottery bid for cafe project replacing demolished bowling pavillion. Along with local residents associations the Friends
fought for and won the right to open up an old council street wardens building at the gate of the park to use as a meeting place for local community groups. Since the bowling pavillion was demolished the friends had not had an appropriate place to meet. The yearly bulb and tree planting activities is to take place in november thanks to money from Tree council.
Also making a difference bid has been agreed to plant 1000 birch trees to cover an unattractive school fence along the perimeter of the park. This work will be carried out by Friends, the Parks Dept and local schools. The chair of the Friends gave a talk at the agm of the West Green Residents Association about the work of the friends. Health walks continue through the park. Litter is not always collected from harder to access areas.
LBH Response: In relation to litter collection, it would be worthwhile to organise a walkabout with the clean team managers to point out problem areas. This idea would be applicable to all parks. Chestnuts: Phase 1 of developments has begun to provide a new playground and multi use games area and a patio area around the cafe.
The strategic users group is still in operation. A gamble has been taken by siting the multi use games area in a rather hidden and therefore insecure space behind the old playcentre in the hope that this unsightly centre will be demolished in phase 2 of the development plans. In relation to 7 committments on the construction of a new entrance to the park as part of a new housing development, it is felt that the council has gone back on one of them which was to ensure that the entrance was very visible and therefore felt secure.
The council signs explaining to park users why the old playground has been demolished need to be bigger and more visible.
Queens Wood: There was a very well attended talk on the ecology of the woods on Oct 25th which was jointly organised by the friends and Highgate Wood. Rubbish collection were improved but the Friends still do a lot of the work of litter picking and grafitti removal. The Friends were responsible for putting out 2 fires in the wood. There is an increased incidence of beer cans left over from night parties. The Friends still feel rather neglected by the council. The wood is now becoming better used by the public. Many of the trees are old and in danger of falling if strong wind continues. There is aneed for regeneration of the wood with new young oaks. A drainage survey is impertive in order to make plans for the improvement of the old paddling pool area. An owl survey has been carried out but funds needed for further bird surveys.
LBH Response: Council has a meeting lined up with Thames Water and will bring up the question of Queens wood issue. A quote has been received for 18,000 pounds to carry out a drainage survey and this cost has to be weighed up in relation to budget. Graffiti removal and litter picking is the responsibility of the council and suggest the Friends meet with Tony Healey to discuss a litter strategy.
Ducketts Common: A very welcome new friends group has now been established for Ducketts Common and the next meeting will be on November 19th. There will be a bulb planting activity on November 17th. Biggest issue identified is the large groups of young people and drugs and prostitution. LBH has identified the problems with circuitry for basketball lighting and this is to be dealt with. The problem of bread and food being dumped for bird feeding is still a major problem and education needs to be put in place. Need to know timetable for tree pruning as the street lighting is being obscured.
LBH Response: Street Scene are due to prune the trees in 2008 with some pruning having been carried out in 2006.
Stationers Park: A successful picnic in the park with local school bands was held with the support of council providing electricity supply. There are two issues which involve major, popular aspects of the park: 1) The beautiful water feature in the park has silted up and needs dredging by professionals. Quotes ranging from 30-50 thousand pounds have been received. 2) The childrens wooden fort which has begun to rot.
LBH Response: LBH have submitted applications for capital grant as part of the budget setting process which includes funding for these 2 issues.
Markfield Park: Work has started on Cafe and river restoration. Stage 2 will start in September.
Manchester Gardens: NDC is funding improvements.
3. Big Lottery Play bids:
Work is now ongoing on play facilities in Chestnuts and Priory Park and the new playground in Lordship Rec will be finished by July.
4. Events in Parks
LBH promised that the Consultation paper will be circulated in the next week as they have only just finished their review. Are now in a position to circulate the paper for the next meeting.
5. Development of Friends Questionnaire
At the last meeting it was agreed that the reworded questionnaire and covering letter would be circulated in time to be discussed at this meeting. This questionnaire was to be part of process to see how the Council could better work with friends groups and how community engagement in parks could be raised to a new level. Paul Ely (LBH) explained that he had been very preoccupied with, the among other things, the Lordship Rec lottery bid and had not been able to meet with Ashley Grey to discuss changes to the questionnaire and how best to go forward with the project. It had been suggested that he remove himself from the process as he is too busy and that a working group be set up from a few representatives of Haringy Friends Groups and Ashley. Ashley to contact Forum to arrange a meeting. Quentin Given (Paddock), David Macdonald (Downhills), Dave Morris (Lordship and Chestnuts) and Joan Curtis (Secretary of Friends Forum) offered to take part. It was requested that the Forum be told in advance if a promised deadline for documents is not to be met so that agendas for meetings can be planned better.
6. Parks Force Review
LBH reported that they would bring the proposed Parkforce Review Model for Haringey to the January meeting of the Forum to begin the consultation process.
Before the parks department officers joined the meeting the Forum discussed its views on the Parks Constabulary and felt that the continuation or not of the service was integral to the Parkforce Review. The Friends wanted to know how the Force was funded, how many active officers this funded and what evidence had been collected of value for money in terms of performance across all haringey parks.
LBH reported that there were 13 full time equivalent officers, 1 administrator, 1 inspector, 1 sergeant and 10 constables who were mainly funded from within the parks department with additional input from Property Services and Alexandra Palace. The force provides 4 officers on a rota at any one time to cover all parks in haringey. There are regular briefings with the Metropolitan Police. Friends were concerned that the existence of the parks constabulary could mean that other police departments do not take on the responsibility, thinking that it is covered. There is also a confusion of who is the right organisation to contact in an emergency.
Given the small number of parks constabulary officers on call at any one time and the large number of parks and the distance they cover in the borough, friends are not convinced that they are good value in relation to parks security. 10 minutes spent in any park does not really mean security in parks. Security needs to be present at specific times for instance where parks are next to schools. Situations like these would be better dealt with by the newly formed safer neighbourhood police who know their local area and are there to build a sense of visibility and security in their particular neighbourhood which includes parks.
It was felt that in crisis situations or when a crime is being committed in a park then the metropolitan police should be the ones responsible for dealing with this within the ordinary 999 system. There are worries also about the lack of public accountability of the parks constabulary which does exist within the local safer neighbourhood teams.
There was a general consensus amongst Friends representatives at the forum that on a personal and anecdotal level, there was no confidence in the Parks Constabulary and that they did not feel that the amount of time spent in the various parks represented value for money for the parks department in their attempts to make parks feel safe and secure.
The position of the forum was that, whereas we recognise the need for policing in parks to be provided by safer neighbourhood teams and the regular metropolitan police force, we feel that the limited funds of the parks department would be better spent providing 13 or more permanent, dedicated workers in parks who would not only increase security during daylight hours when the parks are mostly used, but would also be available to do the work necessary in the parks to keep them maintained which in its turn creates a greater sense of caring and security in the parks. Dedicated park workers would be there to talk with and listen to park users and be the eyes and ears of the park for the parks department to be able to recognise the problem areas of the park that need addressing like for example where structural aspects of the park create feelings of insecurity for the users.
Many parks do not have dedicated staff. Lordship rec representatives reported that since 2 new workers have been put in place there has been a noticeable difference in the look and feel of Lordship Rec which has been noticed and remarked upon by park users. As for the night time problems in parks like drugs, drinking, prostitution and rubbish tipping, the Parks Constabulary were not considered to have been an effective solution and it was felt that these problems should be the province of the metropolitan police whose job it is to deal with antisocial behaviour and criminal activity in our communities of which parks are an integral part. It was felt overall that the funds spent on the constabulary could provide more parks workers and that the constabulary were an expensive option.
This discussion will be continued at the next meeting.
7. Biodiversity Action Plan
The question of where we were at with the Biodiversity Plan was raised by Quentin Given. It is an important document as it is recognised in planning law and is part of the UDP. The present plan is full of ambitious plans but the resources have never matched the ambitions. In the mean time other initiatives have surfaced which overlap with the biodiversity plan like the Open Spaces Strategy, individual management plans for green spaces and the Greenest Borough Strategy. He raised the idea that rather than have lots of different documents it would be better to focus on strategic initiatives. At present there are too many plans and strategies. The Greenest Borough Strategy is for improving the green environment. The programme includes the Biodiversity Plan and a review is taking place to create a more meaningful piece of work. Trying to join things up a lot more. Taking a stronger view around nature conservation in parks. Site management plans should provide vehicle for biodiversity issues.
The scope and timescale of a coherent, manageable biodiversity strategy needs to be sorted out over time. The biodiversity group has diminished as more focus has been given to individual management plans. The forum needs to be in a position to draw together the individual threads and be more involved. Paul Ely agreed to attend the next meeting of the Biodiversity group to take part in these discussions.
8. A.O.B.
a) Council budget setting process: John Morris reported that consultation had started within the council and the parks department was faced with £1.7m of 'efficiencies' (or cuts) over 3 years across recreation as a whole. Recreation are putting in a range of capital bids to cover issues like those in Stationers Park. There are many processes ahead and he will advise the forum of any opportunities for us to be involved. He is willing to attend a forum meeting to discuss this further.
b) Adult participation report: PE reported that research had been done to produce a report into adult participation in sport in the borough. This has been used to put in bids to Sport England.
c) Access to Nature: PE reportedon a new funding stream from the Big Lottery. He suggested that we think about the most applicable sites across the borough. These funds cannot be bid for by the council and has to be bid for by a third party so would be available to friends groups.