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| NEWS | By SUNITA RAPPAI |
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DRASTIC cuts to jobs and services on Hampstead Heath – including possible closure of its famous ponds and new charges for the Parliament Hill Lido – are being proposed by Heath bosses desperate to bring the budget back into line. The Corporation of London (CoL), managers of the 900-acre Heath, say the measures are needed to plug a hole in a £5.5 million budget, which has over run for two years in a row – and could do so again next year without radical cuts. The CoL blame extra staffing costs – and say they will be £410,000 in the red by April 2005. According to the CoL, the money to cover this has now been found from the budget of the Open Spaces directorate, introduced by the Corporation in 2001 to look after the seven open spaces, including Epping Forest and Highgate Wood, under the CoL’s care. The cost-cutting measures currently being considered are to avert another projected overspend of £230,000 next year (2005-2006) – and a further £100,000 that the CoL estimates it will need for “routine estate management and specialist advice”. Amongst the moves being considered are proposals to close either one or all of the heath’s historic Men’s, Ladies and Mixed ponds. If all three are closed – leaving just the Parliament Hill Lido for swimmers, which is also currently shut as the CoL line the pool with a steel skin to stop leaks – eight permanent jobs would be lost, saving £500,000. Other scenarios suggested in a report by the CoL include closing the Hampstead mixed pond. This would then break a century of tradition, and to make up the lack of facilities the report suggests opening the Men’s and Ladies ponds up to mixed bathers. Another suggestion would see both the single sex ponds closed for good – leaving just the less popular Mixed pond for open air swimming. Other highly controversial cash saving moves include plans to charge for early morning swimming at the Lido. A figure of £2 for adults and a £1 concessionary rate is being considered, which would bring in an estimated £16,000 to bolster stretched CoL coffers. Plans to charge for swims at the Highgate ponds have also been flagged up – a move that senior Heath workers say is unworkable, and which user groups have vowed to fight. And popular spring and summer events like the Jazz Day, where the Parliament Hill band stand hosts free music events, are also under threat as management look for savings every where they can. Alongside scrapping the Heath Diary, an information leaflet, the report believes a further £40,000 can be saved. Other belt-tightening devices include leaving currently vacant posts unfilled and replacing some roles with rookie park keepers. A proposal to reorganise the already stretched play and education sections to operate without three vacant posts could save £85,000 but will mean fewer services offered to schools and the closure of the popular Information Centre, based at the Lido. There are also plans to replace the currently vacant gardener post at Golders Hill with an apprentice, saving £20,000 and reducing the conservation ranger team by two posts, saving a possible £60,000. Heath guardians stress that the current proposals will have to be approved by its management committee and discussed by the Hampstead Heath consultative committee before they get the go-ahead. The management committee will meet this Monday to review the proposals and the consultative group is due to meet on November 29. The report will then return to the management committee who are likely to make a final decision on the proposals in January. According to the Corporation, it has increased spending on the heath by 350 per cent since its management began, from £1.2m in 1989 to its present rate of £5.5m – amounting to a total exceeding £50m. The money comes from the CoL’s private fund known as City’s Cash. A private trust fund set up by the CoL especially for the Heath – called the Hampstead Heath Trust Fund – is now worth £20m. |
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