Guest post by Jaine Lunn
What a difference Brent Council has been made to Sherrins Open Space, this year it is in full bloom as a wild flower meadow with lots of different species, sporting a rainbow of colour, some I don't know the names of but daisies, poppies and sunflowers. At the beginning of the year special attention was given to the area designated for meadow with some radical maintenance turning over the soil and reseeding and it has made all the difference. On Saturdays this park benefits from a group of people who have been given Community Service, who not only empty bins but make an effort to pick up all debris around the whole of the park, and sweep the car park. A good job has been done by all and let's hope it stays this way.
Which brings me on to the state of the park locals fondly nickname “King Eddies” - King Edward VII Park, now a shadow of its former glory,
It was once the premier Green Flag Park in Wembley. This year is the anniversary of its opening on 4th July of 1914 by Queen Alexandra in memory of her late husband King Edward VII. It was laid to compensate Wembley residents for the loss of park land of Wembley Park which was being developed as a high class residential garden suburb (this is description is quoted in a book titled Images of Wembley by Geoffrey Hewlett- a planning officer for Brent Council for most of his career)
The band stand and rather grand looking Park Lane School, 2014
View over King Edward VII Park, 1920
The flower beds
In 2012 for Queen Elizabeth's Jubilee this park was designated protection from "Fields in Trust" one of only three parks in Brent with that protection. The others are Mapesbury Dell and Roe Green Walled Garden in Kingsbury, it obviously has not made any difference here. Why has Brent Park Forums not intervened?
The once beautiful flower beds have been replaced by perennial plants, low maintenance plants, or should I say devoid of any maintenance whatsoever, are not attended to at all, are now unloved and not deserving of any merit.
The area designated as wildflower meadow and celebrated by Brent Council as a "Bee Highway" is no more, just long unkempt grass, devoid of any flowers, full of plastic and glass bottles, a danger for any children or dogs who choose to venture in.
The footpaths around the park could do with a complete makeover, full of cracks or water bubbling up when it rains hard as the drains can't cope. Especially the footpath between Collins Lodge and the children’s play area which has been churned up and now houses a huge crater which anyone walking along needs to pay special attention especially mums with pushchairs or anyone who has a mobility issue.
A manhole cover which has been installed has a foot deep gap surround that if anyone was to accidentally step into would surely succumb to a serious injury let alone break an ankle, whether child or adult.
Bins are left unemptied for days on end.
Remains of a portable BBQ - which is against the by-laws that nobody pays any attention to.
Football area strewn with plastic bottles which are never picked up or deposited in the bins by the users of the pitches.
It is very sad to see that for our cricket obsessed Asian residents the demise of the cricket pitches that were once marked out during the summer. Now they are only marked out for football and cricketers are resigned to using the MUGA cage or the periphery of the football pitches which is not ideal as it leaves other park users at risk of being hit by a cricket ball!
The children’s play area leaves a lot to be desired in comparison to what is on offer in other boroughs close by.
This is now a very well used park, especially by all the residents who now live in all the flats that have been built around Wembley with no outside space, this park is in serious need of upgrade and why can't the council use some of its millions £££ NCIL money to upgrade this park to its former glory. After all isn't that what Community infrastructure Levy is for?
It desperately needs the same as Roundwood Park in Willesden:
· New benches and more seating.
· A picnic area with tables and benches
· Larger bins
· A cafe
· A water fountain for all users
· Toilets
Whilst I note that planning permission was granted for SBC Boxing Club to build a new pavilion that would house a cafe and toilets this yet remains to be seen whether it will come to fruition.
We also don't have a "Friends of King Eddies" association like many other parks in Brent, any chance we could get one going? I'd be happy to join and help set one up.
If you would like to help write to Martin at wembleymatters@virginmedia.com with your contacts and I will pass on to Jaine.
13 comments:
Sherrins Open Space is in Tokyngton Ward, whose councillors are Muhammed Butt and Krupa Sheth. I wonder if that makes a difference?
Who are the councillors for King Edward VII Park? Has anyone tried to get them involved in improving the state of the park, and with what result?
The park is in Wembley Hill ward following the ward boundary changes.
The only visible one is Cllr Ajmal Akram who has been seen walking the park with the local police safer neighbourhood team but they are more concerned with the drinkers and drug takers not the actual state of the park.
Brent Council spends smore money on self publicity than on our Parks and Open Spaces. The so called 'wilding' is just an excuse to stop maintaining the Parks properly and lets the weeds hide the uncleared rubbish. Councillors Sheth and Butt are more interested in posing for photos than providing a quality service. The Wembley Hill Labour Councillors clearly need a kick up the backside for allowing King Eddies to get to this neglected state as highlighted in Martin's photos.
Comment from Brent Parks Forum: We had objected, on all key points and added additional points - We also contacted Fields in Trust (FiT) and the planning Department - who both reminded us of the Legal constraints of what 'FiT' can object to. We still held to our additional objections and request for Conditions / points made. There was no Friends Group to contact at the time (May/June) but we reached out to colleagues to make contact with a lady called Jaine, a Community Champion for the park. We are now strongly in touch with her, a powerhouse of care! There is so much to improve - now after lack of funding to the Parks Departments across the UK by Central Government - Nationally our chair is lobbying Government yet again to make parks part of a central funding agenda, Parks are Community Assets and our 'NHS' a Natural Health Service, if properly supported - Friends and Growers' Groups form part of the key running of many parks in Brent, the manhours they put in across Brent is not fully appreciated.
We also met with the Conservation Volunteers 'TCV' which was arranged by the London section of the Federation of Parks Groups 'LFGN' but Brent Council did not take up 'TCVs' offer. Renewing footpaths in parks needs funding, it's not safe to neglect them - that takes funding. Each Friends and Growers Group has their own ways of working across the UK -we nurture each group based on what they can do, to enable them to be sustainable.
If you want your parks funded and protected - start a group around your park. We can help, get in touch brentparksforum@gmail.com
Coordinator - Brent Parks Forum
Don't try and blame The Tories for the neglect of King Edward's Park - Brent Council have NCIL money from all the developers to allocate - they can also apply to places like Wembley Stadium for funding.
Why don't you start a petition calling on Brent Council to at least re do the footpaths using NCIL money???
They spent £65,000 of our NCIL money on the pointless painted road crossings in Ealing Road ' this would gave been much better spent repairing footpaths in the park.
We covered funding streams - with Jaine - Here is the Wembley Stadium Grants event - book a free place now. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/meet-the-funders-tickets-950498104417
It is King Edward's Park - why keep altering names of places?
Perhaps ask Taylor Swift for a donation seeing as she's made many many millions out of her Wembley gigs!
Good for her
Yes good for her and good for us residents if she donated the odd million pound :)
King Edward's Park can't be in that bad a condition if they are holding the huge Mela there at the weekend!
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