FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Merton restores £100,000 for parks Budget following Friends' protest campaign
Spring 2005
A PROTEST campaign by supporters groups Friends of Cannizaro Park and Friends of Holland Park last winter forced Merton Council to drop its plan to stop all future summer flower bedding throughout the borough's public parks and gardens.
Chairmen of the two groups wrote a joint open letter to Merton expressing their "deep alarm" at the plan which would have saved some £50,000. Instead, Councillor Linda Kirby, Merton Cabinet member responsible for the environment, announced that double this figure would be restored to the parks budget.
Merton has been trying to fill a multi-million budget gap but the plan would have meant failure to maintain the precious environmental assets entrusted to the Council for the future enjoyment of all local residents and visitors.
The two Friends groups Chairmen, Tony Matthews and David Hickey, appealed to Council Leader Andrew Judge, Councillor Kirby, Council officers, local MPs, and borough Councillors of all parties. Representing more than 700 members, the two groups found equally strong feelings among other park supporters groups in Merton. Continuing budget cuts on maintenance simply undermine capital projects already undertaken by these groups following earlier reductions in investment.
"The decision to cease what little regular bedding planting still exists would have degraded the parks further, resulting in less colourful, scruffy, lower quality open spaces that became increasingly vulnerable to vandalism and anti-social abuse," said the Chairmen.
"At the same time as these cuts were planned, expensive consultative exercises on the Community Plan and the Local Development Framework were under way. The previous Community Plan clearly identified the local environment as one principal concern of residents. What was the point of spending our money seeking consultation with us if Merton fully intended to disregard our views?"
For More Information Contact:
Friends of Cannizaro Park
Willow House, 35 High Street, Wimbledon Village, London, SW19 5BY
Email:
tony.matthews@blueyonder.co.uk