We oppose Islington's dreadful plan
We are entering the final week during which Islington Council will accept responses to its dreadful plan that we believe prioritizes cricket above every other need in Wray Crescent, even though over 200 people so far have signed our petition opposing this land grab by a small group of people.
We wanted to let you know what you can do to fight back against Islington Council's Cricket First plan, and invite you to take part in our latest park user survey as we attempt to figure out what local people actually need from our little park (because the council has never asked everyone).
We know most of the local community opposes Islington's plans, because unlike the people making these decisions we are part of the community, and we really need your help getting our message across.
Why is it a good decision that at the busiest times of day (evenings & weekends) on the best days of the year (summer) to give so much of Tollington's tiny amount of public green space to just 22 men to play a game, when there are many much larger pitches just 10-minutes away?
Why should a resource that's needed by so many be given over to so few?
There are lots of things you can do to help raise the volume of our collective voices. We have lots more ideas below, but please:
- Contact Islington to let them know what you think -- you have until July 16.
- Enter your responses in our park user survey.
- Write to the councillors and our MP, Jeremy Corbyn to raise your objection to these proposals.
More ways you can take action
Tell the Council what you think
Islington is accepting feedback on its plans until July 16, so please take this limited opportunity to tell them what you think.
You can write to Islington Council at the following email address
wraycrescentparkbuilding@islington.gov.uk
You can also make a submission using this simple form.
Contact Sport England
The Sport England document detailing the funding provided for this project describes it as a: “Cricket and Community Pavilion” that will be used for “Multi Sports”, including “Basketball, Cricket, Association Football, Exercise & Fitness, Sport participation and capacity building, Sports development, Sport and Physical Activity”.
Yet, as mentioned above, the design of the building is focused on serving one primary need, with all other needs compromised and no significant community amenity.
In a related note, Sport England in its recent Getting Active Outdoors guidance wrote: “New sporting infrastructure needs to accommodate the maximum possible number of sports so that people have the broadest choice of how to be active.”
We do not think the plan does this. Nor do we think it meets the needs for “Multi Sports”, or for “Community”.
You can contact Sport England to see if they agree at: funding@sportengland.org
Print a poster and place it where it will be seen
We also have a poster for the petition. Please print it to place in windows, in workplaces, and please share our petition on social media.
Why we fight
We are fighting for a decision that benefits the wider community and a new multi-use building that truly meets the many needs of our area, rather than focusing the lion's share of our park's infrastructure and funding on an elitist sport in an attempt to 'gentrify' the local area.