THanks,

Fiona

BUT — the litter is already really dismaying. Plastic bottles ground into the sand. Lolly sticks peppering the grass. Ice cream wrapper bits hither and thither. Plastic cups tucked into the fence. nappies and pooey wipes on the paths. I think there are four big issues that need sorting.
1) the sheer pressure of user numbers has probably taken the council/bin emptying system by surprise.
2) the ice-cream van (which must be coining it) is just pumping out packaging/pop cans/lolly wrappers & sticks, causing overflowing bins and stuff strewn ruddy everywhere.
3) something — foxes? — is clearly having a field day at night resulting in a drift of yuck around the fullest bins (esp the one nearest said ice-cream van).
4) litter breeds litter — people see bits lying around, and think, ‘oh, what the hell, i’ll tuck my crisp packet under this bush, who cares’.

I think the issue needs several solutions in parallel, to keep this resource as amazing as it deserves to be:
1) more collections from Lewisham council, esp at weekends. Plus fox-proof bin modifications, if such things exist. Ideally some recycling bins please.
2) the folk who run the ice-cream van should ‘give back’ a bit (since this playground is, seriously, going to be the making of them) by going round with a bin liner before they leave each day asking kids & adults to pop their litter in.
3) some kids in nearby schools (eg Prendergast) could do a project on encouraging folk to love their playground and keep it clean and tidy — eg, designing friendly signage.
4) mums & dads should a) impress upon their tots the importance of binning their litter and b) shove stray bits in bins when they find them. its yucky chucking someone else’s detritus, but the cleaner a place is, the cleaner it will stay.

Thanks again.

Sara

Looks like your generating all sorts of positive publicity, which is great news. I hope you can put your sustainability grant to good use and are able to form a strong group around the playground to ensure it is a long-term asset to the area!

I’ll keep you posted.

The new playground is fantastic – many thanks to all those who brought this about.

As a local parent I’d be happy to join a group to help look after the playground, if such a group exists. Do you think that is possible?

Tim

This website is looking fantastic! I’m assuming this playground is the one being funded through Groundwork UK & Big Lottery Fund’s Community Spaces programme?

It’s really nice to see you sharing progress in this way – if you could tag any posts about the project as ‘communityspacesfund’ we’ll be able to pick them up and include your posts on our own blog.

Looking forward to seeing further updates from you.

Sorry not to respond sooner, we didn’t realise we hadn’t set up to be notified about new posts. I have to set a new date for the next meeting. We were busy submitting the lottery application over the summer and haven’t had much time to sort out the regular meeting. I am hoping to set a date this October, we usually have them on Tuesday evenings at 7.30pm in the park keeper’s office.

The do have problems trying to get footpaths repaired etc. Because they are very expensive and there is no specific funding available. The council fought hard to get a route approved on the cycle network which enabled funding for resurfacing, but that has been our only way to get funding recently.

So I am unsure where they would find the money for the steps. They seem to just repair the larger holes which are deemed as trip hazards.
But that said, we can put it on our agenda.

Thanks for your interest and I’ll keep you posted on the next meeting.

regards
Rachel

Chair