Ward Councillors hand in Deed of Dedication Application!

Posted on March 28 by Kerry Hood

Friends of Havelock Rec are proud to say that our Ward Councillors, (Nicky Dykes, Will Harmer and Michael Rutherford from Bromley Town ward Conservatives) have handed in, to the council Environment portfolio holder, an application for the park to have a Deed of Dedication.

Though the park is already designated Metropolitan Open Land, the friends feel that in the current housing crisis, this is insufficient protection. For instance, the CPRE list 10 sites (link to pdf here) with the same designation that are threatened. It should also be noted that it is perfectly permissible to build schools or other public buildings on Metropolitan Open Land – which is why the site was identified for a school when the Friends ran their campaign to save it.

It is considered best practice to protect council owned green space with Deeds of Dedication, and Fields In Trust provided the Friends with help to fill in our application form – Fields in Trust work to safeguard recreational spaces and campaign for better statutory protection for all kinds of outdoor sites (through Deeds of Dedication). Hammersmith & Fulham Council are protecting all the parks ‘for future generations’ in their borough with Deeds of Dedication (see announcement here).

Here is a photo of the proud moment:

Handing over our deed of dedication over : Will Harmer (ward councillor), Bob Neill (MP), Michael Rutherford (ward councillor), Kerry (Friends), Nicky Dykes (ward councillor)

It’s Snow Days in our Park!

Posted on March 18 by Kerry Hood

This is the weather where people will walk a long way for the nice safe slope in our park! Here’s some of our pics of this year’s snow days in our park!

And some more scenic pics:

Some nice pics of our park – can you send us some too?

Posted on March 18 by Kerry Hood

Here’s some nice pics around of our park, and we were wondering if you had some too? We (or our parent friends groups/forums) would then be able to use them for future posts on social media, if that’s ok. We think our park is ace and want to show off how great it is!

collage of photos of Havelock Rec

Help us! Do you what this is – found in our Park?

Posted on March 18 by Kerry Hood

Help us – what is this mystery object?

The other weekend we were planting hedging whips to fill in gaps in our hedgerow, and we found this glass lense:

4inch glass lense dug up on Havelock Rec (aka the Brickfield) showing conchoidal fracture

Originally our park was a brickfield, and then a landfill site until the 1950s, so it’s possible to uncover all sorts of things that were discarded in yesteryear when you’re digging!

Do you know what it might have come from? So far we have the suggestions of a road lamp or a theatre light? We are hoping one of our members might also belong to the bromley local history society and can ask them?

Let us know what you think? If you are talking to one of our older residents, perhaps they might know?

Havelock Recreation Ground designated Local Green Space

Posted on March 18 by Kerry Hood

In November 2016, alongside 20 parks in the Borough, we were designated the title of Local Green Space. A Local Green Space is a:

“green or open space which has been demonstrated to have special qualities and holds particular significance to the local community which it serves.

Development which causes harm to the ‘special qualities’ of a Local Green Space as defined within its Statement of Significance but is otherwise policy compliant will be considered inappropriate and will not be accepted except in very special circumstances.”

A lot of work and time went into the submission for this, so we are very proud to have achieved this status.

You can read the full documentation including the other parks that were granted this status, which is part of the Council’s Draft Local Plan, here.