While Jason Perry, Croydon’s £84,000 per year part-time Mayor, has been boasting about modest upgrades to some of the borough’s playgrounds, concerned residents have been pleading with him to stop council workers trashing our parks.
Tyre marks: contractors working on South Norwood Lake grounds’ tennis court have had little consideration for the damage they are causing
According to the council’s propaganda department “local families across the borough have been benefitting [sic] from new playgrounds” under what Croydon is calling its “Playground Investment Programme”.
Perry was available for a photo op earlier this week as new playground equipment has been installed at Northborough Road in Norbury, the fifth of nine playgrounds getting new kit as part of a long-overdue upgrade of park infrastructure.
Yet at the same time, contractors working on the council’s LTA-funded scheme to turn the borough’s public tennis courts into pay-to-play facilities have been accused of “ruining” another park.
Contractors’ vans have been carelessly ploughing up the grassed areas in the grounds around South Norwood Lake, as they drive up to the courts after recent heavy rains.
One concerned resident has written to Sadiq Khan, MP Steve Reed OBE, his councillors and Mayor Perry.
Dogged effort: the contractor brought their pooch, but nothing to protect the park’s grassed areas
“I live close to South Norwood Lake in SE25 and I am very concerned that the contractors currently upgrading the tennis courts are ruining the park.
“I am one of the many hundreds who use the park pretty much every day for fresh air and relaxation, and I am very upset, to put it politely, to see the horrendous damage done to the grass.
“Deep tyre tracks are turning an ever widening area into a sea of of mud which will make one end of the park completely unusable.
“Please get this stopped, please get tracks laid so that no further damage is done, and have the area reinstated as soon as possible.”
Mayor Perry has be silent on whether best practice will be adopted when contractors move in on other Croydon parks to install the new playground equipment.
That might be something that residents can raise at the “engagement sessions” being held “to gather input from the local community to inform the designs of a further three playgrounds which are set for upgrades as part of the playground strategy”, according to the council.
The dates and locations of these sessions are:
- Canterbury Road (CR0 3JN)
Sat Nov 25, 10am – 12pm
(the council press release included details of a session being staged at Canterbury Road this afternoon, providing less than 24 hours’ notice for the public)
- Whitehorse Rec (CR0 2QJ)
Thu Nov 30, 2.30pm – 4.30pm
Sat Dec 2, 10am – 12pm
- Selsdon Rec (CR2 8PH)
Thu Dec 7, 2.30pm – 4.30pm
Sat Dec 9, 10am – 12pm
The council says: “All engagement sessions will be held in conjunction with the council’s contractors Kompan and Hags, who have designed the new playgrounds.
“These sessions give participants the chance to raise any questions they may have and provide feedback on the designs.”
For more information on the playground improvements and engagement sessions can be found by clicking here.
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