Be Part of the change !

There has been a lot of activity around Lammas Park lately, for various reasons.

Anti-social Behaviour

First of all, on the down side, residents of a neighbouring street have been suffering chronic noise problems from groups of youths who have been gaining entry after the official closing time either through gates before they have been locked or by climbing fences at easy access points; and then proceeding to hold noisy drunken parties. The residents say they are among the few people who long for inclement weather, so as to curtail this anti-social behaviour!

The police have been called on a number of occasions to move the youths along but the frequency of the nuisance has been such that in October, Georgina Wady, the Community Safety Officer, convened a meeting that I attended along with concerned residents, members of the Community Safety Team, Sergeant Chana of the Safer Neighbourhoods policing team and Councillor Chapman. An action plan was developed from the meeting, and one initial action has been for the contractors who lock the park gates to ensure that Lammas is dealt with as early as possible, i.e. around 5.30pm (although that is still after dark in the winter months). The plan also involves securing the unofficial easy access points, reporting of issues, police action to identify regular offenders and warn them/their parents as to their conduct, and regular patrolling after hours.

I have every sympathy with those who have been affected by this problem. We must hope that the plan is effective as certainly our police have better things to do than dealing with irresponsible youngsters in Lammas Park.
 

If you are concerned about anything in Lammas Park, the contact information is:
 
To report incidents:
 
- Walpole Safer Neighbourhood Team, Tel: 020 8721 2949 or 020 71619174/5 (answered when on duty, this is not a 24 hour response line)
 
- If Walpole Team are not on duty, call Police non-emergency number: 101 or in an emergency dial 999
 
- Community Safety Officer (London Borough of Ealing), Georgina Wady, Tel: 020 8825 7018 – to report wider issues that do not require an immediate or enforcement response.
 
To report park-specific issues including locking the park:
 
- Park Operations Manager, Ian Ross, email: <mailto:ian.ross@ealing.gov.uk> ian.ross@ealing.gov.uk
- Parks Contract Manager, Eric James, email: jamese@ealing.gov.uk

Flowerbeds and Children's Playground

Moving on to better news, following the survey earlier this year which confrmed support for improvements to the flower beds within the park, work has now taken place and new flower beds have been planted, together with some changes to the planting elsewhere (pictures). Council officers hoped that they would be in time to plant some spring bulbs in certain areas - if it is not possible this year, I will pursue this for next year. Also in line with the survey, the childrens' playground near Northfield Avenue is being expanded to take in some new play equipment, but without the loss of trees or green space.
I attach photos of these developments, both complete and in progress. Near the other childrens' playground, the unsightly disused toilet block has finally been demolished, leaving a welcome green vista (picture).

While Lammas Park has always been seen as the "sporting" park, compared with the more civic role that Walpole Park fulfils, it remains a suburban park with restful areas and I am glad that this is being reinforced by the flower bed works. The MUGA continues to be well used, as do the facilities in Lammas Enclosure, and it is great that there are some healthy activities for young people, in contrast to the activities of those youths mentioned earlier. I still regret that the MUGA is not "see through" like the tennis courts once on its site, and it is really an urban rather than a suburban facility. However, though I would not wish to see any further development like this in our leafy Lammas Park, it obviously fills a recreational gap, so well done to Will to Win for that!

Recycling Unit

Finally, Lammas Park users will have noticed that the Council's Waste Minimisation and Recycling Team have installed a 'recycle on the go' unit (by the Northfield Avenue entrance) that allows park users to recycle their waste in parks, instead of the contents of waste bins going to landfill. The unit (picture) has compartments for plastic, cans and paper, as well as a general litter compartment.

As this is the first 'recycle on the go' unit we've had in Ealing, the Team are not sure how well the unit will be used, how often it will require emptying, whether contamination will be much of an issue etc etc. They will be closely monitoring it and the unit will be going in on a trial basis initially. The Team are really excited about the unit, and would like to promote this scheme as much as possible, not only to promote the Council's efforts to recycle as much as possible, but also to encourage correct usage and prevent misuse of the unit. I therefore urge all park users to make use of it, when the need arises.

See next page for photographs of the various works