Greenwich Council to lock parks overnight again
Greenwich Council will once again lock parks overnight after halting the practice back in April.
The plan to not lock parks predates current issues with staff on furlough. Back in January I covered plans to save £121,500 a year through a policy to “reduce grass cutting frequency in parks, except a small number of high profile sites: Green Flag sites and sport pitches. Current cuts 18 to 6 per year, reduce average frequency per year”.
No longer locking parks was just £9,000 of that overall total.
It could be argued it wouldn’t pay off in the long term – and certainly hasn’t in the short term given many parks are now full of litter. Anecdotally my local parks are in a mess often after evening meet-ups. Of course staff on furlough not collecting bins adds to the issue and parks being open in the evening isn’t the whole story. Rubbish blows away in the wind and while people should take rubbish home, many appear to think if a bin is full they’ll leave it.
Once bins begin to be collected again, many green spaces will hopefully improve.
Excellent news all parks should be locked at night and those parks and open spaces that cannot be locked need to be well lite with lstreet ighting installed where there is not any lighting already.
Health and safety is paramount for residents living near to the parks and for the public using the parks at night.
Local Friends of Parks groups and the Greenwich Parks Forum played a big part in getting the Council to reverse their decision. The fact that several of these parks have suffered anti-social behaviour and vandalism during lockdown helped accelerate the change of mind.
The Council are prioritising the parks that are at most at risk and which can be locked at night. This includes Well Hall Pleasaunce (reports of cricket being played on the bowling green), The Tarn with its wildlife lake and St Alfege with its gravestones. In addition parks like East Greenwich Pleasaunce which have house backing on to them.