From: Meares,Jonathan ŠŠŠ.@lambeth.gov.uk>
Subject: RE: ooops can you correct this one!
Date: 3 June 2004 09:09:07 BST
To: ‘Anna Best’ ŠŠŠ..@annabest.info>
Anna, I have made some major changes to this. Hope that it is OK.
Regards,
Jonathan
jonathan meares is the area parks officer for north Lambeth. he monitors the contractors Cleanaway whose carry out the Grounds Maintenance contract for Lambeth. He also is responsible for repairs and maintenance issues and has regular contact with local Friends and local residents groups. He is also involved in the Greening Vauxhall Project.
Anna – what about Spring Gardens?
Jonathan – Spring Gardens has a local residents group “friends of spring
gardens”, who are very active.
Anna – does it make a real difference if a park has a “friends of” group?
Jonathan – a huge difference, because they will lobby for things they want
to see happen…they can assist us by canvassing local opinion. In matters
that they feel very strongly about they can also appeal to local councillors
or MPs. Lambeth Parks have carried out lighting improvements earlier this
year; also pathways repairs and new bollards. As far as horticultural
landscaping there have been a number of new trees planted through the
Friends, and there have been discussions regarding landscaping the mounds on
the viaduct side, that are old spoil heaps of building rubble cleared from
the Tyers street side of the site… you could make terraces there and do
some very interesting planting…
We talk about a rumour from some time ago about a leisure complex with an
artificial ski slope being built in Spring gardens.
Jonathan – the council, lib dem and conservative coalition have now
committed themselves to protecting all the remaining green space sites in
Lambeth… One more thing about Spring Gardens friends is that they do a lot
of historical investigations and they’re very interested in the Pleasure
Gardens.. They might like to see some sort of recognition of the past, a
memorial of some sort – or better still some part of it recreated, which
would obviously be a quite ambitious project…