Camden to halt barbecues in Waterlow Park due to large ‘parties'
Crowds descend on historic open space as soon as the sun comes out
Thursday, 10th April — By Ottoline Spearman
Crowds in Waterlow Park at the weekend
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CAMDEN is to halt barbecues in a historic park after it was deluged by thousands of people as soon as the sun came out.
Large crowds gathered at Waterlow Park – one of the few green spaces in the borough where outdoor cooking is allowed – for the second weekend in a row.
Last night (Wednesday), the Town Hall said it would no longer allow barbecues in the park in Highgate due to the scenes over the last fortnight.
Other council-run parks, such as Lincoln’s Inn Fields, Talacre, the Swiss Cottage Open Space and Cantelowes Gardens where dedicated barbecue bins are available will also be under review as summer begins. Hundreds had signed a petition calling for the council to intervene after residents said the park’s biodiversity would suffer and pollution would go up.
Green ward councillor Lorna Jane Russell had supported a blanket ban on BBQs in Waterlow Park, warning: “The situation is already out of control.”
She said she had seen “smoke pollution, public urination and defecation, traffic, road rage and parking issues on Swains Lane; and, very sadly, some destruction of the park from dangerous BBQing. “In recent days I’ve also seen the police called here to deal with crowds and a fire engine struggle to get through rows of cars. It’s becoming a real danger.”
Opened in 1981 as a “garden for the gardenless”, the park was donated to the borough by Sir Sydney Waterlow, a philanthropist and MP. With many houses in the area lacking an outside space, the park provides a breath of fresh air for residents. True to its founding principle, a survey by community group Friends of Waterlow Park previously found that 75 per cent of people did not have gardens.
Overflowing bins in Waterlow Park
The rules on BBQs are not uniform across council-run green spaces but Waterlow Park has been one where they are permitted at certain times of the year.
Sue Smith, one of the signatories of the petition, said: “Islington has now banned all BBQs in their parks. Camden should do the same. Why can’t people just have a picnic?”
Ian Dungavell, chief executive of the Friends of Highgate Cemetery, said: “Using it for BBQs has turned Waterlow Park from a ‘garden for the gardenless’ to a garden for car drivers. “Peace and tranquillity could easily be restored if we went back just to picnics only.”
Fiona Brown, chair of the Friends of Waterlow Park, said she did not think the use of online petitions was “democratically valid”.
But she said: “If Camden want to keep offering the facility, they have to back it up with the right supervision and management. We want the park to work for everyone, but it comes at a cost.”
Users of the park set up the “Waterlow Park Barbecue Working Group” last year to address the concerns of opponents. Louise Lewis was involved in this working group and does not believe that they should be banned.
She told the New Journal: “People who have a garden barbecue there. Therefore, this opportunity should be there in Waterlow Park. An example would be a family who fled Afghanistan, who were living in two-roomed temporary accommodation, who had just got their two daughters out and who were celebrating their son’s 16th birthday.”
Ms Lewis added: “It generates a really happy social atmosphere: the Iranian showing the Ukrainian how to light the BBQ, the Afro-Caribbean Londoner sharing space with a Kurd. How inclusive can you get?” The working group’s report published last year issued several recommendations. These include employing parking wardens to enforce parking restrictions, and installing electric barbecues.
Cllr Russell shares the ward with Labour councillors Anna Wright and Camron Aref-Adib, who said in a statement: “We do not think the present status quo is sustainable and will be pushing the council to explore all options including but not limited to controls on barbecues in the park.”
The council said last night that large “BBQ parties” in Waterlow Park had disturbed users and would now not be allowed.
“Camden’s parks are vital spaces for our residents. Two out of five of our residents do not have access to a garden at their home and our parks offer beautiful spaces to relax, socialise and exercise,” a spokesperson said. “We want everyone to enjoy themselves and this means we will keep our policy of allowing barbecues in our parks in the summer under regular review.”
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