Martin Webster is the chair and driving force behind the huge improvements made by the Friends of West End Park. The Friends were devastated when the Council’s new grass cutting regime wrecked much of the improvements they had made over the last 4 years.
Martin spoke to councillors and about 50 members of the public at the Batley & Spen District Committee meeting last night. He made a very powerful case and was applauded for his statement.
This is what he said:
My name is Martin Webster, Chairman of the Friends of West End Park, in Cleckheaton. Whitcliffe Mount School borders one edge and one street away is Heaton Avenue School, for which the Park is their only green space.
Four years ago it was neglected and unattractive, plagued by broken glass, litter and dog mess. A few of us started picking up that litter and mess to show that the space was loved and appreciated.
Our properly constituted, gap-registered group have since raised well over £20,000. We installed a tarmac path to create a full paved circuit, Three bins, three benches, picnic tables, a barbecue slab, raised beds, 125metres of Flowers and shrubs, 400 trees, repaired broken-down walls, repelled an attempted occupation by travellers, and latterly installed an outside classroom and bandstand.
We won an RHS award, three times as many families now visit, over 100 children play junior football twice a week, we receive good local press and the support of our ward councillors and local MPs. We were due to apply for Green Park Status this autumn.
Then the vandalism started.
It was random at first, just areas of grass that were left unmowed, shapes on an out of date map drawn by someone who didn’t know or care what we had achieved. Nothing made sense. Turning the mower to avoid areas wastes time compared with making full-length cuts, after all, that is why farmer’s fields are now larger. The same mowing team are contracted to cut the Whitcliffe Mount grounds so they have no travel costs and are on-site anyway. Small cards were given out, telling us that ‘Resistance was futile, this was a trial period and until that was over, nothing would be changed’ Council staff had evidently been told that ‘Parks’ were going to pursue this ‘test’ and see who squealed’. We wrote, politely thinking that this was a mistake and that good sense would prevail, after all, it was easy to see that if you left grass unmowed, it would grow!
So it proved, our flower beds were invaded by weeds, overwhelmed by grass which became full of the litter and dog mess we had worked so hard to control. Our long-term strategy for the park already included ‘wilderness’ areas that balanced the ecology of the site in its surroundings, whilst attracting new species. Simple neglect is not the same thing. Our letters all received the stock reply, from a Mr Nigel Hancock, which told us that other, ‘better used and looked-after parks which are highly-regarded and well-used by our communities’ would get priority and that we should not expect things to change until after the trial. I am sure that he didn’t mean to be so ignorant, patronising and arrogant and was just under pressure to make a good idea, badly implemented, look as though it worked.
So, with limited equipment, we spent lots of time and money trying to minimise the damage until then. We hand-cut paths to allow access on the traditional routes. We cut around trees and planters, we weeded, we reconditioned a gifted-mower, oh, and I went on a scything course.
The trial ended. It was time for school sports day. Heaton Avenue called to ask when the grass would be cut. Mr Hancock sent photos suggesting that there was plenty of room for the sports day so nothing would be done. I asked my contact at the Parks Department the same question and was also told that nothing would be done until this cabinet meeting made decisions and then the District Committees would decide what happened next, which will be in two months-time.
Kirklees however, do not possess equipment capable of mowing grass which is as long as it is now, which suggests that they never intended to do it anyway. Kirklees street cleaners are told not to enter long grass to pick litter as it may contain needles, glass and other dangers, so how can it be safe to create a situation which forces children to play in it?
Why were the community user-group you instigated not consulted or informed before their work was demeaned and damaged? How is it that I can learn from the Huddersfield Examiner which parks will be mowed or not next year, before the meeting at which that decision is supposed to be made?
Why does the same article tell us that the council ‘warmly welcome discussions with community groups who are keen to volunteer and help maintain our parks and open spaces’ That may be the soundbite but is not our experience.
Why do I keep getting asked to ‘bamboozle’ roadshows where I am told as an example of the new way of thinking that I will be able to borrow mowers to cut the park – really? Most mower damage is user-caused by untrained and inexperienced operators of machinery which is large, powerful and has to be moved around the area. That sounds like a dangerous and impractical suggestion of the type made by people with no experience in the real world.
This whole ‘trial’ policy has the trademarks of a badly thought-out, hastily introduced, box-ticking idea mismanaged in a way that undermines the chances of cooperation between council departments and volunteer community groups by disregarding and ignoring them. Community groups may be thought of as ‘single issue’ but are aware of and involved-in other things that affect their community. We don’t act in isolation. Don’t forget that the men who mow the parks also walk their dogs there and their families play in them.
Please talk to us about our plans to save money but above all, please mow our park.