Brent Council has confirmed in a response to Cllr Lorber that Brent Council currently has no Green Flag awards. This confirms my statement on Twitter (above) refuting claims by Cllr Nerva (Queen's Park) during the Council meeting on February 27th, apparently after some frantic googling, that Brent had won Green Flag awards for Gladstone Park and Roundwood Park. His intervention came before his prepared speech. He said:
I'd just like to pick up on a point made about parks in Brent. I've just looked up, Gladstone Park: Green Flag, Roundwood Park: Green Flag. There are lots pf other places in Brent that provide really great recreation and wellbeing. I think it is really sad to hear someone denigrate the really hard working Brent Parks Service.
It's 'really sad' that a member of Brent Cabinet does not know that Brent Council opted out of the Green Flags Award scheme back in 2014 when parks maintenance was outsourced to Veolia. LINK
The Award was always a great incentive across London and is international in its scope. The map below shows the Brent desert with just Roe Green Walled Garden and Queens Park marked. The Walled Carden is looked after by the Barn Hill Conservation Group rather than Brent Council/Continental Landscapes (the new contractor) and Queens Park by the City of London Corporation.
Indeed there is some hope as Continental Landscapes features in the 2024 Green Flag Awards list for work in some other London boroughs and applications have been made for King Edward VII Park and Bramshill Open Space.
It is to be hoped that Brent Council will listen to residents who truly value their parks, including supporters of Barham Park who were recently refused a hearing, and renew their commitment through participation in the Green Glag Award scheme.
Back in 2011 I celebrated Fryent Country Park's Green Flag Award with congratulations to Brent Council and a video showing the park throuh the seasons.
A rather tattered green flag remained in the Fryent Way car park for some time after the Council withdrew from the Award.
11 comments:
Anyone who walks in Gladstone park will tell you it hasn't got a flag. You take your life in your hands as Viola use it 100 times a day with their vehicles. Dominoes pizza 50 times a day with their mopeds. Irwins fair have destroyed the cricket wicket and the playground is something from the 1970s. Add the dog attacks, two bodies found and countless assaults and it's little wonder. What's pitiful is that Brent's Cabinet and local Cllrs care not a jot.
Lets face it; it is obvious that Cllr Nerva hardly understands his own Cabinet brief, so why should we expect him to know about Brent's parks? The guy is an absolute liability, as are several others on the Cabinet and of course on the Labour back benches.
The playgrounds are dumps too
Nerva doesn’t live in the real world
Barham Park used to have a Green Flag many years ago and some of us keep on pressing the Council to improve the maintenance of the Park. Friends of Barham Library helped to raise money for improvements to the Pond (although it is not looked after properly at present) and the upgrading of the Queen Elizabeth II garden (more planting still needs to be done) and we keep an eye on the Park and try to engage with the Council as the Trustee of the Barham Charity.
This is the Criteria for Green Flags.
"Criteria
A successful Green Flag Award site demonstrates
through a sound management plan and a well
run site that the management understand:
+ their users – who they are, who they could be,
what they want, how they are informed and
involved
+ their site – what is special about its history,
biodiversity, landscape, social and physical
setting, and what it is trying to achieve
+ their management strategy – that what is
there is safe, in line with legislation and policy,
well maintained and that there are plans for the
future"
Barham will sadly never get a Green Flag under the current Leadership of Brent Council as there is no engagement with the public who are denied the right to speak at the Barham Park Trust Meetings.
Those of us who care about Barham Park (and others across our area) do not intend to give up. Our Parks deserve better and it is up to all of us to Fight for them.
Didn't Brent Council get around £630K from the sale of the two ex park keepers cottages??? What exactly have they wasted that money on??? There have certainly been no visible improvements to the park!!!
Cllr Nerva ran against Cllr Butt on day 1 of being a cllr for Leader. he is full of hubris and self-entitlement. No one respects him as a local cllr - I hear from his colleagues that he is also not respected in the Labour group. One day I hear he wants to challenge Cllr Butt again for the leadership...... would rather keep Cllr Butt than see a return of a Blair-right run brent again..... ann john was awful. Bring back the days of Ken Livingstone!
Friends of Barham Park need to be more active arranging events in the park to engage with residents and build a team of volunteers to help with the park maintenance for the benefit of all of us as these two other local groups have done...
"Eastcote House Gardens is a beautiful, tranquil, award-winning open green space with a Tudor dovecote, stables and walled garden, all of which are Grade II listed. Although the Gardens are owned by the London Borough of Hillingdon, they are maintained by a volunteer group – the Friends of Eastcote House Gardens, who were awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in 2016. Working with Hillingdon Council, the Friends made a successful bid for National Lottery funding of £1.3 million to restore the Tudor buildings in 2014.
Since 2008 the Friends have transformed the gardens into a series of different areas, including:
The Jubilee Orchard, planted to celebrate the 2012 Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.
A magnificent Prairie Garden.
The Old Orchard with its stunning azalea bed and rockery.
Replanting of the boundaries, adding thousands of spring bulbs including a magnificent drift of snowdrops.
We have recently created a Jubilee Bed to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee."
https://www.eastcotehousegardens.org.uk/
"Friends of Pinner Village Gardens was formed in October 2015 to ensure Pinner Village Gardens remained accessible to the public, and to give park users and local residents a say on its future development.
Recently we have achieved…
Over 225 Friends and more than 900 followers on our Facebook page
£24k raised for the redevelopment of the “Pocket Park” near the pond, with new paths, seating and planting
Six new pieces of playground equipment, as well as new benches and picnic tables inside the playground
Redesign and replanting of the entrances of at Rayners Lane, Whittington Way and the raised bed at Compton Rise
New benches were installed at the Everest Roundabout, the Rose Circle and throughout the park.
Re-opening of the long-disused water fountain.
A total of 24 new trees planting, thanks to donations from local residents
New entrance sign at Whittington Way, as well as the installation of our first interpretation panel and a fingerpost sign
Successful creation of a wildflower garden
Creation of a mini-marsh area and bug zone, along with the installation of a bug hotel
Snowdrop drift added and Crocus planting in 2021, with thanks to donations from Pinner Rotary
Successful introduction of native bluebells in the Compton Copse Area with support from Harrow in LEAF
Tree walks, nature sessions, Easter egg hunts, Geocache events and summer music events held"
https://www.pinnervillagegardens.org.uk/
Why isn't more of our NCIL/CIL money being spent on our parks???
Mainly spent on surveys of potential works that never take place
It is obvious that Nerva, Tatler and many others who align with Labour to Win and their friends such as Luke Akehurst MP are the far right of the Labour Party and are driving Right-Wing policies such as cuts in benefits. Only MPs can join the Right-Wing Group "Get Britain Working", but be assured that several other Brent Labour Councillors such as Benea, Kelcher, Smith, Bajwa, Kennelly, Crabb, Donnelly-Jackson, Knight, Moeen, Long all fully support this despicable grouping of MPs. A very sad day for our country.
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