Friends of Whittington Park call for more consultation on projects
Published: 15 October, 2010
by PETER GRUNER
THE managers of the Archway park where a £1.3million development has been dogged by serious delays have been accused this week of a lack of consultation with members of a user group.
Sue Bineham, of the Friends of Whittington Park, said that Islington Council’s Green Space team could do more to let residents know what is happening.
She spoke out after the Tribune revealed that new state-of-the-art changing rooms are not being opened because of a mystery gas leak and that a nearby ecology park and dipping pond has taken almost three years to build and is still not complete.
Ms Bineham believes both schemes will enhance the park when they finally open but that communication between Green Space and users is often “a bit hit and miss.”
She added: “We are meant to have an update on the development on a monthly basis which we haven’t always had. Fencing goes up with no indication about what it is for.
I understand workers from one contractors stopped working on the ecology park for two months but we weren’t told why.
“I get my information from talking to park workers and contractors but it is up to Green Space to let us know what is going on.”
Much of the park’s woodland was removed for the building of the changing rooms. However, Ms Bineham, who stood for the Green party in junction ward at the last local election and polled 730 votes, believes that a small wooded area along the fringe of the park opposite Wedmore Street could be increased.
She praised all the park users and workers, with special mention for dog owners like herself who come out regularly in all weather and keep an eye on the area.