Monday 14 December 2015

King Edward VII Park, Wembley - an explanation from Brent Council

The following explanation has been sent to Cllr Stopp regarding the works in King Edwrd VII Park, Wembley

The works taking place at King Edwards Park are to improve the quality and drainage of the five football pitches, and the cricket pitch on site, which have historically been of poor quality. This project commenced in August, and was originally expected to be concluded with 5-6 weeks; however, a number of issues- including the discovery of a buried electricity power cable and an unregistered gas pipe running across the site- resulted in delays whilst we liaised with the utility companies, and unfortunately the colder and wetter weather we're now experiencing means that the final cultivations (which rely on dry ground conditions and higher temperatures) cannot currently take place.

The specific status of the works is as follows:

Part A: Site remodelling of King Edward VII Park

All works have been completed aside from final cultivations, sand amelioration and seeding.  Final cultivations rely on dry ground conditions and as expected, ground conditions are unsuitable for these works.  These works will be completed at the earliest opportunity in Spring once the soils have dried sufficiently.  It is envisaged that these works will take a maximum of 3 weeks to complete before seed is in the ground.  Once seeded the pitches will be green within 1 week to 10 days.

Part B: Maintenance of Football pitches (not including Cricket square)

The maintenance works will begin once the seed is germinated and ready to cut.

Part C: Cricket square construction

This element of the works have been completed in full

Part D: Cricket square maintenance

The maintenance works will begin once the seed is germinated and ready to cut.

The contractors will ensure the site is secure before winter. They will also come to site in the next couple of days to verti-drain and overseed the track way and make good damage caused by the caterpillar digger.


Unfortunately therefore, it is now unlikely that some of the works will be concluded before better weather in the spring, and the temporary fencing will need to remain in place until then.

We have asked for some fresh signage to be placed on site explaining the delays, and hope that this will be in place within the next week or so.

We are also attempting to locate the source of the smell that is being reported.

Clearly there is a need to keep yourselves, the Friends of Group and all interested parties abreast of the latest developments.

I am sorry this has not properly happened to now. I will personally schedule regular updates.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Similar problems occurred about ten years ago, when the Council arranged for improved drainage work to be carried out on the rugby pitch at Gladstone Park. "Learning from experience" is not helped by staff reorganisations, and then privatising the parks service to an outside contractor.

Philip Grant.

Alison Hopkins said...

It also happened more recently at Gladstone Park, whilst I was a councillor. We had a swamp big holes and fences for months with no apparent activity at all.