green+spaces+-+The+Friends+of+parks+Forum+-+Forum+minutes+(4th+Sept+2010)


 * Minutes of Friends of Parks Forum general meeting 4 September 2010 **

** Present: ** Joan Curtis (Downhills Park) - Chair; Dave Morris (Lordship Rec), Chris Chadwick (Priory Park), Ulla Lefmann (Ducketts Common), David Warren (Parkland Walk), Joyce Rosser (Priory Common), Helen Steel (Lordship Rec), Michael Johns (Queens Wood) note-taker; Stephanie Romanczuk observer, **items 4-7** Paul Ely (London Borough of Haringey), John Morris (London Borough of Haringey) **Apologies:** Ros Abrams (CREOS), Abigail Cooke (Aiming to form F. of Railway Fields), Max Wynter (F. of Woodside Park), Paul Thompson (F. of Markfield)

** 2. Matters arising **// Green Flags/Pennants // Haringey open spaces had been awarded 13 Green Flags & 6 Green Pennants, which was a great achievement, making it the borough with the second highest number of awards in London. //Love Parks Week// There had been 600 events around the country for Love Parks Week at the end of July. The Haringey Forum had issued a press release on the importance of protecting parks from the effect of public expenditure cuts which had gained some publicity. There would be a meeting of the London Friends Network 13 Sept.

**3. Representations to Council** A meeting had been held between Forum reps Joan and Dave, Councillor Dogus the cabinet member responsible for open spaces, and John Morris, Assistant Director of Recreation Services. We had said we were opposed to cuts in spending on open spaces and were concerned that they would take matters back to the 1980s when parks had been an eyesore and unsafe. The council said the government were calling for cuts of 25%-40% which the council did not want but might be forced into. We said that we wanted to work with them to oppose government enforced cuts. We would be campaigning but, although things were likely to get difficult, we wanted to maintain a good relationship. The Forum would also be working with users of other services and would not get into arguments about the relative value of different services; nor would we get into discussions on the relative importance of different open spaces. The Forum pressed the council to put more pressure on the govt and Councillor Dogus promised to raise the issue with her colleagues.

The Forum had also expressed their concern about possible privatisation of services. The Council said they were looking at bringing in some outside contractors in consortia with other boroughs. They were, however, determined to oppose privatisation as long as possible.

The Forum noted that internal capital funding had been cut and that the council were relying more and more on external sources. However, funding bodies like the lottery expected to see match funding so might not be accessible. The Playbuilder programme had been frozen. The Forum were concerned that the Big Society theme might lead to the assumption that work on green spaces could be devolved to volunteers. Volunteers achieved a lot in Haringey but this could not be expanded without more public funding and volunteers could not, and should not, be used as a replacement for public services. There were rumours that Making the Difference would be scrapped which would be moving in quite the opposite direction from the Big Society. The Forum was also concerned that there was already a freeze on recruitment and cuts in agency staff which were putting pressure on remaining staff so-called efficiency savings were in reality service cuts since the spending reductions were being imposed now whether or not improved working methods had been found.

All Friends groups should look out for cuts in their parks; if cuts had an impact on the parks, Friends should immediately make representations rather than accepting cuts as inevitable. The only way they would be reversed would be by public pressure and it was important that the Council and Government could not say that no-one had complained about reductions in service. Already in some areas hedges were not being cut or shrubs pruned, which could create security problems.

There was concern that the cuts would lead to the loss of local presence of staff in parks, the withdrawal of funding for parks police and fewer agency staff which would effectively dismantle the whole achievement of Parkforce changes.

**// It was agreed that the Forum should write to the Haringey Cabinet member responsible to express their concern. It was also agreed that the Forum should write to the Secretary of State for Education to protest against the freezing of the Playbuilder scheme. //** ** 4. Local Reports from the Friends, plus Council response //Parkland Walk// ** They were working on signage for the Walk and some maintenance was happening although nettles were a problem. The management plan was now in draft and that would show up what needed to be spent. It had been realised that there was no access which could be used by disabled people in the Highgate to Crouch End stretch of the Walk but this would be very difficult to rectify. Progress on encroachment was slow and they were concerned that cuts could put this on hold. John Morris said that the Council was still working on encroachment. It was important to check at each stage with the lawyers that everything was being done correctly so that enforcement later could not be challenged. Initial letters had now been issued and, if there was no response, the Council would move onto physical enforcement, which would be necessary but very controversial. It was suggested by Forum members that in some other parks, there had been physical damage to boundary fences to gain access and that this might constitute criminal damage and be a police matter. Paul Ely agreed to look into this. **//Queens Wood//** The frog pond was now dug and starting to fill with water. The intended timetable for planting had been missed because of delays and a new date needed to be fixed. Many of the No Cycling notices which the Friends had put up had been removed. Paul Ely said he would ask Tony Healey to speak to the Friends about this. He was not aware of any development on bye-laws. **//Lordship Rec//** They would hear the results of the lottery application on 28 September. The Council had guaranteed on both capital spending and maintenance for 10 years. The various user groups were very active. The Trax cycling group had decided to continue operating its weekly youth club after the end of the summer holidays because of demand. The Friends had been awarded a Green Pennant for their management of the woodland. The annual Community Festival would be on 11 September. **//Downhills Park//** The pond was now finished. The park had been awarded a Green Flag. The caf building was now complete. Sadly David Macdonald, the Chair of the Friends had died and the Forum paid tribute to his achievements. Paul Ely said that the budget for the caf had been cut and they were still working on this.
 * // Priory Park //** The next years calendar was now virtually finished. The Friends had been working with BTCV on the wildflower meadow and there would be three work days in September to improve it. Paul Ely said that the lessee of the cafe had given notice though the manager had taken on running it for the time being. There had been some expressions of interest in response to an advert, but the council were considering looking for someone to take on both the caf and the tennis courts as had been done in Albert Road. The courts would soon be unplayable and it would take an outside commercial enterprise to find the funds to invest in renewing the courts. Dave Morris expressed concern at private firms taking over facilities in public parks. Paul promised to ensure that the Friends were consulted. **//Ducketts Common//** Following a police event on the common, crucial gates had been left unlocked which meant that dogs got into the play area. There were a number of maintenance issues which had not been dealt with. Paul Ely said he would speak to Lew Taylor about the problems; it might be desirable for Lew to attend future Forum meetings. The Friends did not know whether the expenditure cuts would affect the regeneration plan. John Morris said it all depended whether the Council decided to fund the play area in Ducketts Common out of its own resources now the Governments contribution had been axed. That was the only development which was at all likely and there would be a lot of competition even for play areas. The proposal for an Adizone had been dropped. **//Finsbury Park//** Paul Ely said the council had been consulting on the proposal to have a commercial five a side centre with a bar and additional car parking within the park. He was collating the results of the consultation, which included 140 opposed, and would put a paper to councillors. Dave Morris said the Friends of Finsbury Park were opposed and the Forum supported them. **//White Hart Lane Rec//** Attempts were being made to get a Friends Group going there was to be an event in October/November. **//Woodside Park//** There was to be a Jazz Picnic organised by the Friends on 5 September. **//Fairland Park//** Regeneration was complete and there had been an opening ceremony at the end of August. **//Markfield Park//** There are ongoing efforts to strengthen the Friends group and Dave will attend the next meeting on behalf of the Forum. **//Russell Park//** The regeneration was now complete. **//Clarendon Rd, N8//** A community garden had been set up by Parkside Malvern Residents Association and bulbs had been planted. **//Bruce Castle Park//** The bowls club was closing and had handed back the pavilion to the council who would now have to look at a way of developing or using it. **//Chestnuts Park//** The estimate for demolishing the Pavilion, as agreed in the management plan, had come in at 100,000 which was outside any budget. The next Friends/Council strategy meeting would discuss the issue the following Friday.

**5. Council Budgets** John Morris said that there were three separate pressures on spending: there was a continuing efficiency programme; there was an in-year overspend of 10m; and there were the governments proposals for future public expenditure cuts. The **//efficiency programme//** was looking for 200k efficiency savings in Parks which he said would not cut resources but achieve better value for money with existing funds from better ways of working. He would bring the proposals to the next meeting of the Forum. The **inyear overspend** had largely arisen in Childrens Services, though a small part had arisen in Recreation Services, mainly because of a shortfall in income regeneration. This would largely be managed within the Sports and Leisure side of Recreation Services. The Government were looking for between **//25 and 40% savings from local government over three years//** a 25% cut would represent a 60m reduction for the whole of Haringey and 1.5m cut for Recreation Services out of a 6m annual spend. The Governments decision would be announced in the Comprehensive Spending Review in November. The scale of the cuts would be very challenging. He recognised that Parks and Open Spaces needed to be maintained and it might be easier for Sports and Leisure to make savings linked to alternative forms of management. But Members might need to consider service reductions. In addition the **//Area Based Grant//**, which runs out at the end of March, was under review. This contributed 150k to the Hygiene teams, 100k to BTCV and 75k to the Parks Police. He was not aware of any current threats to the funding of Groundwork. He hoped there would not be cuts to the **//Green Spaces small grants scheme//**, which he regarded as giving very good value and he had not heard of any threat to Making the Difference. The Forum agreed that these grants were absolutely crucial to our work in our green spaces, and so must be continued. There was a **//recruitment freeze//** (subject to a few exceptional cases). This did cause short term difficulties but was sensible for the longer term in his opinion as it kept the councils flexibility to change its organisation as far as possible without redundancies. They had also cut back on agency staff because of the inyear problems. The **//capital programme//** had had to be reviewed because of a shortfall in capital receipts. This had led to the Park Road Swimming Pools refurbishment being put on hold but there had been some reduction in the parks budget. No new trees were being purchased, but around 350 had been bought before the freeze which would enable some limited planting to continue. He recognised that some capital expenditure would be needed for planned & preventative maintenance. **//Playbuilder//** had been a two year programme for new play equipment, including 11 sites in green spaces; the first year had been completed and the second had gone to design stage when it had been suspended by the Government. The Council had made representations to Michael Gove. The Forum asked whether they were considering judicial review. John Morris said that, so long as the Government met costs already incurred, it was not thought the decision was vulnerable to legal challenge. The Council had not so far cut its contribution to the programme and they were likely to want to continue with some developments. And in some parks there were bids out for external funding (for example Friends of Stationers Park had made bids for 200k, though there could be problems if the Council could not supply match funding.)

The Forum repeated the concerns it had expressed to Councillor Dogus. They noted that if the Area Based Grant was cut it would undermine the whole approach to Parkforce. They reiterated that they wanted to keep good relationships with the Council but would oppose cuts in services and hoped the Council would bring pressure to bear on the Government and lead major protests. John Morris said he would try to find out what the council was trying to do. He also promised to consult the Forum on specific proposals as they arose. It was agreed to invite Councillor Dogus to the next meeting of the Forum.

**6. Any other business** Haringey Friends of Parks Forum has helped set up the new Haringey Alliance for Public Services, and Joan has been attending the monthly meetings. There was an anti-cuts rally due at the next Council meeting on 14th September, 6.30pm and all community groups are urged to attend. 15,000 leaflets had been printed to publicise this and copies were circulated at the meeting.