FRIENDS OF MANOR HOUSE GARDENS – OPEN FORUM 24 February 2015 – 7.30pm Manor House Gardens Library Attendees: Martin Hyde – Green Scene Lewisham Council, Darren Budden – General Manager Glendale, Friends of Manor House Gardens committee, Paul Lowndes (FMHG Chair) made introductions and set the scene in terms of why we have found ourselves in the current position and how we have responded to it. Budget cuts announced in September 2014 with a direct impact to parks; including the loss of a static gardener and the loss of the static park keepers Our immediate action was to gather community support in terms of; Understand cuts and impacts Raise awareness at the FMHG AGM The creation of the Lewisham Parks Forum to represent all user groups at council meetings and provide one voice LPF discussed case with Lewisham Councillors who agreed to take on the case. There is general concern amongst the councillors in regards the timeframe and Councillor Jim Mallory believes this is an unrealistic timeframe to expect the park user groups to respond an act. Petition which 2000 plus members of the community signed for the retention of MHG Park Keeper Petition, along with an open letter sent to the mayor Paul Lowndes (FMHG Chair) gave the following summary of FMHG’s actions since the last meeting; Christmas event on 20 December, carols, community tree decoration, involvement from Pistachios (thanks to Pistachios) FMHG visibility at weekly Farmers Markets Petitioning as described above Drive on membership to help raise awareness of present situation Andy Sullivan (Treasurer) provided an update on finances Balance is £1500 credit Thanks to Pistachios for helping with the membership drive Ideas on how to use money Part Fund the Festival Help Community garden teams Any other ideas? Question and Answer Session with Martin (MH), Darren (DB) and Paul (PL) (Chaired by Andy AS) By way of introduction MH agreed that this past year has been difficult. He confirmed that the plan to cut static park keepers has been approved. DB explained that in 2005 a review was undertaken and at the time it was decided that 7 parks needed full time park keepers - Manor House Gardens being one of the 7. He sees the need for the park keepers (site staff) and does not want to lose them entirely. This initiative has seen an improvement in all parks in the borough. Question: When you compare parks that are to lose Park Keepers – do you look at footfall in park. This question was asked as it was believed MHG has a high footfall. DB – Confirmed footfall is taken into consideration and that MHG has highest footfall in the borough. This was part of the deciding factor in 2007 when MHG was given a static park keeper MH: It is proposed that the Park Keeper for MHG’s be twinned with Mountsfield Park spending more time at MHG. Glendale office is in Mountsfield Park so it is thought there is less of a need for Park Keepers to spend time there. As of now 12 parks have been chosen as ‘key parks’ (MHG’s one of them). There is a need to ensure ALL parks in the borough can be serviced. Question: When can we expect a Park Keeper in Manor House Gardens? Answer: DB – Saturday, Sunday, Thursday, Friday Question: Who takes a holistic view of what maintenance is required? Water Fountain not working – Glendale are aware. The engine is burnt out. It will be fixed in the immediate future DB estimates that £10K has been spent on fountain DB confirmed aerator (purchased by FMHG) is working Tree Maintenance: MH confirmed that mature trees are the responsibility of the council not Glendale. All mature trees that need work are prioritised – 1 to 3. Street trees get highest priority. Trees in park being damaged by children climbing them. There was a concerned raised that this would get worse if no park keeping monitoring it. Question: What are Park Keepers responsibilities? Cleansing of park Horticultural (secondary) If split on day only cleansing Park Keepers have been developed with training in Horticulture and are certified Daily mobile cleansing team visit on days Park Keeper not scheduled to be at park Question: How to contact Glendale? DB: Working towards improving communication to make contacts visible. Contacts will be provided to FMHG who will circulate via noticeboards and social media Question: How are the Park Keepers that are to be retained being chosen? DB: This is confidential as still in consultation period – as usual with these situations skills and work history will be evaluated. Comment from MH: In some way Lewisham Council with Glendale have been ‘victims of own success’ when it comes to parks. The contract was slimmed down with Glendale some time ago with no material impact. Some other local authorities have use internal facilities and now have to externalise with less budget than Lewisham originally did. Question: What is the expectation for ‘Eyes and Ears’ with park users on an anti-social behaviour point of view. MH: Up to individual – would not be asked to be put yourself in a vulnerable positon DB: Agreed and enforced that Glendale do not expect Park Keepers to put themselves in danger Over whelming message call the police – phone number with Pistachios and on noticeboards. Question: How do council / Glendale respond to Anti-Social Behaviour DB: Glendale has a mobile patrol team who are not the police but are able to issue fixed penalty notices. They are assigned to hot spots / vulnerable parks. If an immediate response is required a call is made to the Glendale office who then alerts the mobile team. Question: What are the plans for static gardeners going forward? DB: Confirmed the static gardener going. They are being replaced by mobile horticultural team. Parks are prioritised ABC in terms of needs of planting and gardens. A, B and C teams then attend to an A B or C park. MHG is a priority A park. The A team is a team of 3 highly skill horticulturalists. This team visits A parks once a month for 3 days and more when seasonal duties are required. Question: Define highly skilled horticulturalists. Answer: N3 qualification in horticulture and are also used to train apprentices They are supervised by Mountsfield depot horticultural team and Mountsfield is where they are based Question: Can user groups have more have an input into what the teams do in the park? It would be good to know what is happening month to month. Answer: DB - Yes can give indicative works program. Governed by contract specification – this sets out the minimum standard Glendale need to maintain Question: Has any thought been given to apprenticeship schemes? Answer: DB – Yes for the past 4 years Glendale have been working with Groundwork to take on and train unemployed people. In summary 10 – 12 people are taken on in the summer and are taught basic horticultural skills and but mainly professional life skills. Obviously Glendale has its own resources leave and in turn recruitment is done from the in house apprenticeship scheme in conjunction with a local college. The apprenticeship last 3 years. Funding streams are national and these are given to employers rather than colleges Question: Where in Lewisham are these apprentices working? Answer: Two in Deptford, Mountsfield Park, Forster Park and Phoenix housing Question: How is Glendale / Council responding to need to be transparent with contract and budget cuts. MH: There is a meeting tomorrow night (25/02) to discuss how is contract worked and how is the horticulture skills assessed and spread across parks. Disappointment will be raised at this forum Question: Is there any possibility of the volunteer team working with horticulture team? Answer: There is an organisation called ‘Natures Gym’ which is being rolled across parks and nature reserves. There is an initiative in the pipeline to allow more localised volunteer groups in parks to maintain gardens. This includes the need to look at ways volunteers can be involved; In parts of parks? Whole parks? Will take a while to come up with a plan and see the benefits this could be years away. Question: Standards? Schedule of works? Quality? Can us as the community become more involved in setting standards and providing inputs into schedule of works Question: With the reduction of Park Keepers where is the duty of care? MH: Community changes need to come through council NOT Glendale DB: Glendale are here to maintain not damage – they have a duty of care and have an culture to develop and motivate staff. Question: MHG is a popular park with yearly events. Is there any sponsorship mileage? Answer: MH - Council has to change how income can be shared from events PL - Contribution is provided to parks – FMHG received donations from cinema, festival and funfair last year. Question: Who is responsible for maintaining railings and buildings in park (toilet) Answer: DB - Glendale and they have have planned maintenance program and can provide timetable. MH - Funding for footpaths submitted recently – this is council responsibility. Glendale patches and maintains they do not refurbish. Question: Would it be a good idea for all user groups to have all information necessary to make our jobs easier (approvals etc) Answer: Will try and map out and provide better communication Question: Why are the leaves and branches all collected and dumped in a big pile that is then blown away, trampled by children and just left not taken away Answer: DB - This is known issue and comes down to lack of supervision and communication. Will look to put this right. Question: Who is responsible for locking up? Answer: In winter Park Keepers are. In summer ‘turnkeys’ are used. This is a mobile team who lock each park. This journey can take 2-3 hours by the time each park is cleared and team drive to next location. Question: Could we have a board that shows exactly what maintenance was done in park by mobile park keepers Answer: DB – we could look to provide this Question: Would it be a good idea to have one representative into Glendale via Lewisham Parks Forum? At the moment all groups are vying for Glendale’s attention. If we had one body reporting issues etc. they could be prioritised and worked on. Answer: MH – agreed - LPF great starting point. Question: When is reduction of Park Keepers going to start. Answer: MH - 1st April cut is made to Green scene budget Question: Any scope for trial period for changes? Answer: Changes will be made and reviewed as time moves on. Martin mentioned 21st March – community clean-up day. It would be good if the user groups can promote this and utilise this day Paul mentioned 12th March – London friends group network meeting at Manor House Library.