Cllr Alasdair Ross on his local park - Brunswick Road
Many of you may have heard in the local Ipswich Press recently that the Tory/Lib Dem run Ipswich Borough Council had decided without any consultation with the public, to open all the parks in Ipswich 24 hours a day.
Some Ipswich parks are left open all day already and some cannot be secured but Christchurch Park, Holywells Park and our own Rushnmere park of Brunswick Road are some of those that are currently locked at night.
There was such an outcry led by the Ipswich Labour Party, local residents and the local paper that Inga Lockington the Lib Dem portfolio holder for the Parks, announced at Full Council that she had changed her mind and that the parks will now still stay locked at night.
You may then say why are we still campaigning on this subject. A number of reasons, the statement to the press only mentioned Christchurch and Holywells Park so Brunswick Road and Newbury Road may still be in danger of being left open. Secondly Inga still has to find savings of £600,000, so it is important that a Park Rangers service is still maintained and that we do not just find that they are replaced by members of the 'Big Society'.
If you wish to look at the Council 'Vision' for Parks and open Spaces in Ipswich you can find it here.
It is important that we protect our parks and open spaces, a much loved part of the town by all our community. It is quite hypocritical of the Tory/Lib Dem coalition to take the plaudits as Christchurch Park wins it's third Green Flag award at the same time set out a vision that would have left this park unprotected at night and also seen a big reduction in the Park Ranger service throughout the town.
A number of residents have asked about setting up a 'Friends of Brunswick Road Park' group. If you support such a n idea , please feel Free to contact me: alasdairross@hotmail.com
7 comments:
Comment on reply slip returned by Rushmere resident: "We understand that Cllr Un-Lockington has now indicated that gates will be locked but she doesn't know by whom! We're not volunteering"
Don't forget Alexandra Park - I've had cause to report drug dealers in Park to Police and Park staff, but don't let that get in the way of the Con Dems cuts plan to include Alexandra Park in its "open all hours" policy. The local Lib Dem councillors there are a waste of space.
Hi Alasdair,
Your link to the vision for parks does not work.
checked link to Parks vision - working now
oh sorry link is on new post on Ipswich parks use that link
I support the Brunswick Orchard Management Plan 2010-2015. If you haven't seen it, you have until Nov,1st to comment on it.
The IBC Park Patrol Service was re-launched in February with a slightly reduced workforce but a revamped deployment plan, from my experience so far I have found they are doing a better job than ever!
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