Forum Topic

Get ready to start fighting to save your local park.

At a council cabinet meeting on 11th July there was an agenda item 14, REG 525 Parks Transformation https://democraticservices.hounslow.gov.uk/documents/g9860/Public%20reports%20pack%20Tuesday%2011-Jul-2017%2018.00%20Cabinet.pdf?T=10If you scroll down to the pages relating to this item it says "Document is Restricted" In the decisions paper https://democraticservices.hounslow.gov.uk/documents/g9860/Decisions%20Tuesday%2011-Jul-2017%2018.00%20Cabinet.pdf?T=2 it says that the recommendations in the report were approved.What recommendations? Clearly the public isn't supposed to know. The explanation for the exemption is;By Virtue of Paragraph 3 Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)There have been rumours that parks management is to be handed over to Lampton 360 a set of companies set up by the council whose main aim is to develop property, they are also now running the waste contract. The suggestion being made is that is that maintenance is "coming back in house". Lampton 360 is a series of private companies and if the "business affairs" justification can be used to hide what it is doing, there are serious concerns about transparency and accountability.Where are our local councillors? What have they been doing to ensure there is proper consultation, scrutiny and debate before our parks are handed over to Lampton 360?Can any of our councillors throw any light on this mysterious agenda item?

Vanessa Smith ● 2949d14 Comments

Things are becoming clear.

Nicholas Beard ● 2812d

Thanks for reply.

Nicholas Beard ● 2946d

Nicholas.  When the DWP closed Feltham Job centre because they couldn't get the staff, they opened a benefit enquiry point inside the library.  The money from renting the space to give advice must have come in handy to the library people as must the remaining service left in the town.

Sarah Felstead ● 2946d

Watch out for libraries. The arguement goes nobody much uses them. Well every library I go in is full. I moved recently and I went to the library to join up. I got there and it was not open but outside there were people every where. I asked someone what had happened. They told me it opened in fifteen minutes. Well when it opened we all went in. It was full. There are three floors they all filled up. There were young people right up to old. There is a reading aloud group. On Saturday in the basement there is a group playing for three hours. Wifi of course as well as computers.  People do use libraries!!!!

Nicholas Beard ● 2946d

Looking at the house from the front down the right hand side is a little hut where you pay to go to the rear grounds. On the left hand side is a fence right up to the lake thus blocking off the rear. In the fifties I used to have to write to the royal parks in Hyde Psrk for a fishing permit to fish the lower lake. Thus the grounds were controlled by the royal parks.

Nicholas Beard ● 2947d

Osterley wasn't a Royal Park. The Earl of Jersey gave it to the National Trust in 1991. For some years afterwards the gardens and woodland behind the house were free to enter, and this only stopped when that area was improved. There is still a large amount of park and woodland open to the public free of charge.This is a completely different situation from our municipal parks which we pay for though council tax. Open green spaces are vital to our health and well-being and must be defended.

Virginia Fassnidge ● 2947d

Dont worry about financial interests, remember the old phrase IT CAN BE TAKEN CARE OF.

Nicholas Beard ● 2947d

https://www.hounslow.gov.uk/news/article/30/lampton_360

Vanessa Smith ● 2948d

Sorry to be a bit dim, but what exactly is Lampton 360. Do some Councillors/officials have a financial interest in it? If so surely that should not be allowed.

Pat Kingham ● 2948d

It certainly is - but Nick you're NEVER too old. I thought I'd given all this up but I'm damned if I'll stand idly by when such threats to our parks and open spaces are being made.

Vanessa Smith ● 2948d

I am too old now to activate, but I have nothing but admiration fou you. I feel all of this is part of a wider agenda.

Nicholas Beard ● 2948d

Well, there are a considerable number of us who are not just going to sit back and let anything like that happen without a fight. There are local elections next year, always a good time to concentrate minds or challenge our political masters. We need green spaces more than ever, if we lose them they are gone forever.

Vanessa Smith ● 2948d

I can see us having to pay to go in the park. I remember Osterley Park as a royal park. Around the back of the house was a circular path through the trees by the lake coming out by the summer house and stables. Imagine my surprise when the National Trust took over and you had to pay to go around the back of the house just to walk!!!!!

Nicholas Beard ● 2949d

Carillion's contract ends at the end of JulyHounslow is to take on control of Hounslow's libraries from 1st August after the contract with Carillion has been ended by mutual agreement.Councillor Samia Chaudhary, Hounslow council cabinet member for green policy and leisure, said: “We believe that by bringing this back in-house, we can further improve what is a very valuable service for our residents and integrate this across our wider leisure and cultural services.“Our intention is that the service to the public will not change, and there are no plans to close any of the libraries during the transfer.”A spokesperson for Carillion said: “The contract for Carillion to provide library services in Hounslow has been ended by mutual agreement and will transfer back to the council on 1 August.“Carillion continues to run the council’s parks and open spaces.”Carillion purchased the contract from Laing in 2013. The original contract with John Lain was expected to run until 2023. A week ago Carillion announced it had to write off £845m and its chief executive Richard Howson stepped down with immediate effect.Councillor Samia Chaudhary told Public Libraries News “The council is ending the contract for library services by mutual agreement with Carillion. Responsibility for the library service will transfer back to the Council on Tuesday 1 August. We believe that by bringing this back in-house, we can further improve what is a very valuable service for our residents and integrate this across our wider leisure and cultural services. Over the next three weeks, the Leisure team will work closely with HR, ICT, FM and Finance to transfer the service in-house. It will be challenging to complete the process quickly, primarily relating to the IT infrastructure, but our ICT team is confident that the necessary systems will be in place by 1 August.Our intention is that the service to the public will not change, and there are no plans to close any of the libraries during the transfer.”

Vanessa Smith ● 2949d