Park Bench
News from around London*s Parks, Gardens and Squares
More Green Flags than Ever
More
London parks than ever are flying Green Flags this year A total of 119 parks
and green spaces in Greater London were awarded flags, up from 86 a year ago
and 59 in 2005. Parks winning their first Green Flag include
- St James's Park
- Richmond Park
- Russell Square
- Dulwich Park
- Finsbury Park
- Peckham Rye Park
- Vauxhall Park
Eight City of Westminster sites received flags, up from three last year, and the City of London maintained its success rate with 14 Green Flags. Parks in the London Boroughs of Bromley, Havering, Richmond-upon-Thames, Sutton and Waltham Forest received flags for the first time.
The Green Flag Awards scheme has been running for 11 years. Winners are judged to be welcoming, safe and well maintained, and to 'involve the local community'. The Green Flag scheme is administered by the Civic Trust on behalf of the Department of Communities & Local Government. Successful parks are entitled to fly their flag for a year. A fresh application has to be made each year. This year a record 682 parks applied nationwide, resulting in 554 winners.
Green Pennants
An additional 15 sites in Greater London were among 43 across the country run by community and voluntary groups to be awarded Green Pennants; and another nine (of 31 nationally) achieved Green Heritage Site accreditation for their historical significance and conservation achievement.
For a full list of London winners please see www.greenflagaward.org.uk
Sacked Lambeth Park Worker Wins £0.5m Compensation
A sacked London park worker has won record compensation of £550,000 because he was the victim of disability discrimination.
The man, who suffers learning difficulties, was unfairly sacked from his job by Lambeth Serviceteam, an employment tribunal in Croydon found. His compensation comprises loss of earnings until retirement.
The man, aged 34 at the time he lost his job, was one of 24 members of the GMB union who said they had been unfairly dismissed. The claimants were all gardeners and had tended parks throughout the LB Lambeth, including Clapham Common. In total the group was awarded compensation of over £1.3m.
The claimants were dismissed following a redundancy exercise, prior to a transfer of ownership of Lambeth Serviceteam.
Arbitrary
The Tribunal found that the redundancy selection criteria were arbitrary and not consistent with internal policies, that Lambeth Serviceteam had discriminated against four of the claimants on the grounds of their disability and had further breached its own equal-opportunities procedures.
Richard Ascough, GMB regional secretary, said he was "delighted" with the ruling, as his members had "been very shoddily treated by the employer after many years of loyal service".
The hearing was told that the employer had used a system for selecting personnel for redundancy which was weighted against disabled workers as it focused on the numbers of days of absence, and whether staff drove a car or not.
Lambeth Servicetearn has since been bought by Veolia Environment Services.
Facelift for Jersey Gardens
In September 2006 Jersey Gardens, Osterley, was one of the first London parks to receive designated restoration funding from the Parks for People initiative supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Big Lottery Fund.
The London Borough of Hounslow (LBH) sought funding for 3.24-hectare (8-acre) park "to develop it as a green space resource for the local community". LB Hounslow used Jersey Gardens' inclusion in the LPGT's London Inventory of Historic Green Spaces to back its application.
Sunken Alpine Garden
The most unique feature of Jersey Gardens is the Dell, a sunken rock garden planted with alpines and surrounded by an area of grass, trees and a variety of other plantings. lt was created in a pit left by the extraction of gravel for the nearby Great West Road.
When first opened in 1931, the park was believed to contain the only alpine rockery in London and it used to be the focus of significant horticultural interest. Today the Dell is much overgrown.
Development Phase
The project has now entered the development phase and is being driven in partnership by Hounslow Council, Friends of Jersey Gardens, CIP, Groundwork Thames Valley and Land Use Consultants. As well as replacing benches and signage with the original 1930s design, improving pathways, creating new steps and ramps to open the space up to everyone, there will be a wide range of activities to get local people to explore the park's history.
If taken forward, the proposed improvements would cost approximately £1.8 million. The National Lottery Heritage Lottery Fund will contribute £1.55 million towards the project, with funding of £950,000 from other sources.
A Point of View
TRUST patron Hal Moggridge has had a letter published in The Times concerning the proposed new building that will affect the views from St James's Park (see also Sumner's Summary (right)).
He has asked the Trust and individuals to also send letters to express concern. Email Hal if you would like to discuss it with him: info at colmog.co.uk
In August London Mayor Ken Livingstone succeeded in halving the historic view from Richmond Park to St. Paul's as part of his plans to promote the construction of more tall buildings in London. This decision was immediately followed by a plan from Land Securities to build two 50-storey towers in Victoria.
Tony Arbour, the GLA member for South West London, has been leading the fight to preserve the view from Richmond Park locally and canvassing for an Act of Parliament to protect it, like the one which protects the view from Richmond Hill Terrace.
Fitzroy Square Makeover Stirs up a Debate
RESIDENTS of Fitzroy Square are at odds over plans to resurface the pavement in the Square using York stone flagstones.
The gardens of Fitzroy Square
Novelist and local resident Fay Weldon is pressing for the makeover to include removal of the benches on the perimeter which she says attract gangs who "hang around in a sinister way".
Robert Bargey, secretary of the Georgian Group, which has offices overlooking the square, commented: "Fitzroy Square is one of the most complete Georgian squares in London. Judging by the number of local youths who gather there, they seem to like it too. They are not malevolent or malicious but in many ways they are a nuisance."
André Schott, of Fitzrovia Youth in Action, believes removing the benches would not prevent youths from congregating in the square. "They need somewhere to meet and be with their friends. If you take away the benches they will sit on local doorsteps."
Young Gardeners on Line at Royal Parks Website
A new online resource for young gardeners has been launched on the Royal Parks website.
The site - www.royalparks.gov.uk/young_gardeners - was created by a 13-year-old editor and team of volunteers, and features projects for autumn such as 'grow your own herb garden'.
It is hoped that parents will encourage young members of their family to get involved in gardening, and possibly make suggestions for the site and add some of their photos to the online photo gallery.
Henry Moore at Kew
Chris Sumner writes:
Kew Gardens are worth a visit at any time of the year, and can be as beautiful in the autumn and winter - especially if the weather is kind - as in the spring and summer. Until 30th March 2008 Kew offers the additional attraction of a major exhibition of 28 sculptures by Henry Moore displayed throughout the north- east sector of the gardens (www.kew.org/henry-moore).
The last time I saw so many of Moore's works together was at the Forte di Belvedere in Florence in 1972, 14 years before the sculptor's death in 1986 at the age of 88. My memory is that many of the pieces then on display were in travertine or marble, materials fine outside in Italy but not suited to the English climate; all the pieces now on display at Kew, with one exception, are of bronze.
The photographs in the catalogue and illustrating the background exhibition in the Nash Conservatory indicate how well Moore's art travels. Although his English, and more specifically Yorkshire, background fed his art there is nothing insular or parochial about his works: his Seated Woman looks as good and as timeless when seen against the background of a lake in Beijing as she does in a grassy clearing at Kew.
The pieces on display are on loan from the Henry Moore Foundation, Perry Green, Herts, where, as at Kew, they are displayed against a background of grass and trees. Other copies are to be found in public and private locations all round the world.
Moore drew on, and drew, natural organic forms, and the characteristics of his drawings, which have both a solid roundness and a scratchy and complex surface texture, are carried through into his sculptures and castings.
They don't all work for me. The Wall: Background for Sculpture and the series called Upright Motive leave me uninvolved. The 9m-long Large Reclining Figure looks good in photographs and across the Palm House lake, but its smooth white fibreglass surface is rather unpleasant close up. But others are quite wonderful, especially the two-part sculptures, which are monumental, dynamic and intimate according to how one chooses to view them.
My father's illness over the summer
and his death at the end of
September have meant that lately
I have not been able to give the Trust as
much time as I should have liked, but the
last couple of months have at least served
to bring home two points. One is how
kind and thoughtful people are, and the
other is how very therapeutic parks and
gardens are, and how much solace may be
gained from working in one's own garden
and from the simple enjoyment of trees
and grass and water. 
