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| NEWS | By RICHARD OSLEY |
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HOUSING bosses have been told to think twice about selling off playgrounds and open space on council estates. Councillors, who have spent the past six months working on an investigation into how parks are managed by the Town Hall, say Camden must resist the temptation to enter into land sales. The cross-party panel is preparing to deliver its final recommendations next month and is ready to tell Camden’s Labour Cabinet – senior councillors who have the final say on Town Hall policy – that provision on estates is inadequate and failing council tenants. They have been told by council staff that playgrounds are being axed because Camden cannot afford the cost of making them safe for children to use. A draft copy of the panel’s report – seen by the New Journal – reveals the bold-type recommendation: “The council should ensure that selling off or building on council open space are always treated as a ‘last-resort’ option.” The councillors – made up of members from all three parties at the Town Hall – also demand that tenants and residents are fully consulted on schemes and that if a sell-off does go-ahead residents should be given replacement space. The stark warning comes with a decision over the future of a shutdown playground on the Castle Road Estate in Kentish Town still not known. A row exploded in the summer when plans to sell off the land next to the Heybridge block to make room for a new housing association development were unveiled. The dispute left housing chief Councillor Raj Chada nicknamed with the unenviable moniker ‘The Playground Snatcher’ because the homes are planned for wasteland where a children’s play area was closed but never re-instated. Cllr Chada, who has not spoken publicly about how he feels the land should be used, said a final decision was due in the near future. “We have consulted with the tenants,” he said. Town Hall insiders, however, have suggested that the controversial scheme is bound to fail after coming up against widespread unrest. Scrutiny panel members, led by Tory councillor Andrew Marshall, stop short of recommending what Camden should do with the Castle Road plot but provide disturbing evidence that tenants are being failed by the council’s provision of playgrounds and open space. After interviewing frustrated department officers, lack of funds have been blamed for the scarcity of play areas. Melissa Dillon, the housing department’s head of capital, said: “Estates built in the 1960s and 1970s tend to have defined play areas and communal spaces and at least have the potential to provide the facilities tenants want. Where there are play and leisure spaces, changing design and safety standards often means that the existing space is unsuitable in its current form. “In some cases the council has had to take play spaces out of use because without the capital investment they cannot meet current standards.” The panel’s report recommends that council tenants suffering from a lack of open space are encouraged to use Regent’s Park, Primrose Hill and Hampstead Heath. |
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