I assume that some, if not all, contributors to this forum discussion have received Matt Harmer's monthly newsletter in which he covers the Brentford Festival in great detail. If so, you will also be aware that he is very much in favour of the picnic on 2nd September - though there was no comment about his capacity of involvement! Personally, I am very much against having private companies managing public property and services for profit. I think this will always lead to conflict. However, my opinion in this particular situation is that this sad state of affairs may possibly have arisen from badly written contract terms and/or legal documentation. If it meant that Hounslow were paying a pittance for the contract services, thus requiring JLIS to resort to extortion to cover costs, that is one thing but, to my knowledge, JLIS were given the contract even though their tender had been much higher than that submitted by the previous incumbents, CIP. In which case, what is the point of putting contracts out to tender? I stand to be corrected on this as I have not been privy to the documentation but only hearsay. I have to say that I am very saddened by the fact that the people on the ground in the park, i.e. Continental Landscapes, who gave so much time and effort into making the park a pleasure to visit, have been abandoned and the job integrated (even with some common personnel) into JLIS. This does not bode well for the future of the park, given that JLIS, to my knowledge, have hardly ever responded to any communications from FOBM or the Festival Committee. I only hope that there is a clause somewhere in the contract with Hounslow enabling discontinuation if JLIS renege on the standard of their services. On the one hand I feel angry that we have been asked to pay twice to use our own public spaces and, on the other, that we are losing a much loved community event. All I can say is that I have been witness to the many frustrations incurred by JLIS on Linda Massey and the Brentford Festival Committee which have meant delays in the organisation of the event year upon year. The Committee agreed during the feed-back meeting following last year's Festival that we could not continue with the same delays caused by JLIS's lack of response in 2012, thus leading to our current stand following the missing of the BF committee deadline.I believe Matt mentioned in his newsletter the fact that JLIS said they incurred costs because they financed public indemnity insurance for the event, but I was of the understanding that the Festival Committee provided their own event indemnity insurance. Again, I stand to be corrected on that.Basically, there are limits as to how many times you can hit your head against a brick wall before losing enthusiasm (or sense!)
Jan Jones ● 5367d