Mayor Ken backs CNJ’s call to keep the Ponds open and free

MAYOR of London Ken Livingstone is backing the New Journal’s call to save the Hampstead Heath ponds from closures – and has told Heath bosses they should hand over the 900-acre open space to a democratically accountable body if they can’t keep them open.
He has been joined by well-known Heath users Lord Melvyn Bragg and former leader of the Labour Party Michael Foot.
In a statement to the New Journal, Mr Livingstone said: “I applaud the New Journal’s coverage of the ‘Save The Ponds’ campaign and of the proposal to close one or more of the swimming ponds. People from across London visit these famous ponds in their thousands but they are also an invaluable local resource.
“Residents and visitors have been given a voice in your paper.”
He continued: “The Corporation of London has a duty to provide access to the Heath’s facilities – including the ponds. If they cannot find the resources to fulfil their duty, I want them transferred back to London government.”
The CoL has proposed swingeing cuts to Heath services that could see one or all of the Mixed Pond, Kenwood Ladies’ Pond and the Men’s Pond closed.
Heath bosses are looking to cut their budget by £330,000 next year and argue that the ponds, which cost an estimated £500,000 annually, are unsustainable.
The moves have been condemned by swimmers’ groups, who accuse them of failing to understand the value of the ponds.
In a dramatic meeting last night, representatives from the three main swimming groups – the Highgate Lifebouys, the United Swimmers Association and the Kenwood Ladies Pond Association – plus a new group, the Mixed Pond Action Group, met with Heath bosses to discuss plans. It was agreed the discussions would be kept private – but a source inside the meeting told the New Journal that there was an “air of mutual distrust” and no compromise had been reached.
The source said: “They were talking about swimmers raising the funds to keep the ponds open, but our experience of working with them in the past is not positive.”
And the Mayor’s offer to run the Heath was dismissed by a Corporation spokesman.
He said: “There is no question of anyone else managing the Heath – it was entrusted to the Corporation by Parliament 15 years ago and we intend to be managing it in 150 years or even 1,500 years from now.”
Yesterday, (Wednesday), Hampstead and Highgate Labour MP Glenda Jackson tabled an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons.
Ms Jackson told the New Journal: “I’m tabling it not only because the issue of the bathing ponds is of major importance to my constituents but because Hampstead Heath and its facilities are a treasured resource for all Londoners.”
Michael Foot, who lives in Hampstead and walks regularly across the Heath, said: “They (the Corporation of London) are not a fit body to be managing the Heath and have no understanding of it. They are not responsible to the people.”
And Lord Bragg, who once played for Dartmouth Park United, a Sunday football team which used Heath pitches, said: “Free bathing in the ponds is an exemplary tradition of democratic access which has been carefully preserved by generations - until now.”
Monty Python star Michael Palin said: “Swimming in the ponds is one of the great pleasures of London life.”
In another blow for Heath bosses, swimmers groups won permission from the High Court to challenge the CoL’s decision to ban self-regulated early-morning swimming in the ponds.
Over 200,000 people from all over London swim in the ponds annually, with over 80,000 people using the Mixed Pond during summer.
The Corporation of London is the oldest and wealthiest local authority in the world with assets in a private fund, known as City’s Cash, worth an estimated £1 billion.

At 91 Wyn demonstrates health benefits

A NONEGENARIAN who has been swimming in the ponds at Hampstead Heath for more than 40 years urged the Corporation of London not to close them as she took her morning dip on Monday, writes Kim Janssen.
Wyn Cornwell, 91, has swum twice a day at the ladies’ pond since the mid-1950s.
Vigorous and healthy as she enters her tenth decade, Mrs Cornwell, of York Rise, Dartmouth Park, attributes her good health to the ponds.
She takes a dip after breakfast and then swims again in the afternoon, donning a woolly hat when the temperature falls below zero.
Speaking after a brisk swim in the six degrees centigrade water, she said: “In all the time I’ve been swimming here I’ve hardly had any illnesses – only a hip operation in November last year stopped me coming, and I was back again by April.
“Coming here is like coming to a second home. It’s somewhere wonderful and I don’t what I’d do if it closed – I’d be heartbroken.
“I have swum at swimming pools as well but it’s just not the same.”
Photos of Mrs Cornwell, collected over the years, decorate the lifeguards’ office, where she is a friendly and familiar face.
She said: “The pond used to be shut in the afternoons but I’d climb over the fence and swim anyway because I enjoyed it so much.”
But nowadays, she added, she wouldn’t be happy swimming without lifeguards on hand.