‘Other than gates and park closure, we want the same things as our three councillors: a safe and enjoyable Primrose Hill Park for our whole community’. Photo: Rajiv Bhuttan

• WE, the Keep Primrose Hill Open group, refer to the letter written by the three councillors for Camden Town with Primrose Hill ward, (‘We won’t stand in denial over park chaos’, July 15).

It was written in response to our piece the previous week and, while we welcome their engage­ment, they have sadly reiterated false claims we had sought to address.

We reveal their mistakes here:

• Primrose Hill is not the only Royal Park open 24/7. Richmond and Bushey parks are too.

• Published police records indicate two residents were assaulted in the past year.

Two is too many, and there may be others that were not reported, but it is not the large numbers suggested.

To confirm this we have made a Freedom of Information request to the police that we will share publicly, once received.

• Drug dealing happens mainly on the local streets, where the Royal Parks have no authority to act. The policing of this has been minimal and this community deserves enforcement of the law on our local streets.

• Cllrs Pat Callaghan and Richard Cotton have acknowledged that they did not consult police data prior to supporting the gating and closure of Primrose Hill Park. They have asked to see the results of the FoI from the Met when we receive it.

• Damage to local businesses occurred after the installation of gates. It was the evacuation of everyone in the park at 10pm that led to the large unruly crowds on the high street.

Similarly, problems on the railway bridge are a direct result of enforcing park closure.

Apart from getting so much wrong, the councillors have skipped two important matters:

• Enforcing park regulations is the least intrusive option. Another option, preferred by the police, is proactive community engagement.

• If a petition calling for gates and closure exists, why has it not been seen by anyone from the public?

What does it ask for exactly? Does it ask for “gates and closure” or does it ask for “ASB issue on the Hill to be addressed”? This distinction is essential, as we ourselves would support the latter but not the former.

Other questions we at Keep Primrose Hill Open have not found answers to yet are:

• It takes about 30 officers to close the park and deal with the aftermath.

Has any comparison been made between the current costs of closing the park and the cost to have several officers actively patrolling the park to enforce existing rules, nipping ASB issues in the bud, including preventing large speakers from playing music and crowds from building?

• In response to increased use of Primrose Hill and surrounding areas during 2020 and 2021 – and the simultaneous decrease in activity in other areas of Camden – how has the Camden Council supported the police?

What actions did they take, if any, to ensure Central North were policing the newly busy hill and surrounding streets (specifically the drug dealers), during the night and early morning hours?

• How has the Camden late-night levy (which they continued to collect from venues throughout lockdown) been spent both prior to December 2020 and post December 2020?

Prior to December 2020, when late-night venues were closed but Primrose Hill was experiencing an increase in visitors, were late-night levy resources directed toward the hill?

We were told by Inspector Paul Clarke that in December 2020 £500k / year of late-night levy funds were cut from Central North’s budget. Can you please confirm or deny?

• Camden has shown an impressive commitment to keeping green spaces open for all to solve inequality and health / mental health issues (as exemplified by accepting £1m in funding from the Future Parks initiative).

What action has Camden Council has taken itself to support the Royal Parks in the last year and ensure resident access to green space? For example, in Shepherd’s Bush the council funded temporary toilets.

To conclude, other than gates and park closure, we want the same things as our three councillors: a safe and enjoyable Primrose Hill Park for our whole community.

Support from the three councillors and the council toward furthering this goal would be welcome.

Please do visit our YouTube channel “Keep Primrose Hill Open” where we regularly post videos of the park, the good and the bad.

AMY McKEOWN,
ANDREA OSBORN,
Keep Primrose Hill Open