Havelock Recreation Ground Not Saved…Yet!

The Council have not thrown the application out, and La Fontaine and the Education Funding Authority still have our park as their ‘preferred option’.

We are very grateful for the local conservative party’s support, but they don’t actually make the decision.  We want the option of building on Havelock Recreation ground to be dropped now, and not have to fight a planning application.

other news:

Heart in the Park

Not A featureless dog-toilet

At The Door (a big thank-you)

Welcome Statement of Support

What do you want to see in the Park?

Our Bio-Diversity Report

Did you know…? (local history)

HEART IN THE PARK

FOR VALENTINE”S DAY, WE LAID A RED HEART IN THE PARK TO SYMBOLISE THAT IT”S THE HEART OF OUR COMMUNITY

Thanks to everyone who made this spontaneous event last weekend, it was actually quite moving and great fun.  It was also good to meet all my new Facebook friends!  Thanks to Emma for such a cool idea and organizing it,  Felix for marshaling us, and to Mark who took an amazing time-lapse video – if you didn’t get there, it’s still worth watching at:. http://youtu.be/VEfZ4u4MNhU  The newspaper photographer was double-booked and didn’t make the event, so we can only say he missed out there!

NOT A FEATURE-LESS DOGS TOILET

If you have the time, please can you email councillor Nicholas Bennett JP (representing West Wickham) who is Chairman of our Education Policy Development and Scrutiny Committee, to explain that our park is not just a featureless dog’s toilet, at: nicholas.bennett@bromley.gov.uk (I think, I can’t find it listed) or his business email: md@kentrefurbishment.co.uk

Remember: we are polite, and we are not anti-La Fontaine school (just that this is the wrong site)

here’s some points you can make:

* it might be a featureless dog’s toilet to him, but no park looks it’s best at 5 degrees Celsius in February; many parents are away at half term

* no local shortage in school places in this community  – ie: spaces at St Georges + other primary schools planning expansion

* less than 50% of the places – (after Looked After and Siblings are accounted for) for local children

* traffic  – (630 pupils, with 4 primary schools in half a mile, Ravensbourne secondary school, waste site, Tescos..)

* once a green space is built on it is lost forever – our community is Deprived of Urban Open Space already

And… please  PLEASE PICK UP YOUR DOGS MESS I know that there are selfless dog walkers who pick up other people’s dog’s poo, but can the few who don’t clear up after their dog do so!

AT THE DOOR

A massive thank-you to all the people who have gone from door-to-door to get petition signatures, hand out posters, and tell quite a few people about the proposal to build on our park.

WELCOME STATEMENT OF SUPPORT

from the local Conservative Party after inundation of emails.  We are so thankful for everyone who emailed and wrote to our ward councillors and MP Bob Neil (please see http://friendsofhavelockrec.org/please-write-so-this-space-remains-a-park/ on our website). BUT DON’T STOP NOW, we need more emails to thank them for their supportive statement: 

” Therefore as much as we will be supporting the school in finding an alternative we cannot support the building of a school on this site.  We will continue to work with and support residents in opposing the building of a school on Havelock Recreation ground.  We have written to the Executive to request that they do not agree to the lease on the land in principle.”

Please see the full text on: http://www.bromleytownconservatives.com/2015/02/16/havelock-rec-frequently-asked-questions/

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE PARK?

We have a survey so you can let us know what you want to see in the park (other than the wide open spaces which we want to retain).  Please let us know so we can show the council that this park is loved: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7B7RP7K.

OUR BIODIVERSITY REPORT

Judith John kindly composed a biodiversity report, with helpful recommendations, despite it being winter when most of the invertebrates and other animals are hibernating, please read it on the ‘Documents’ page of our website: http://friendsofhavelockrec.org/documents/?preview=true&preview_id=59&preview_nonce=c2b4b6220c

but some of the recommendations are:

planting a native hedge along the chain-link fence boundary

allowing the bramble patch to expand over to join up with this hedge

having swathes of wildflower / long grass especially next to the hedge

planting an ‘under-storey’ of shrubs under the mature trees

DID YOU KNOW..?

Some amazing local history facts with maps and photos uncovered by Tony Deary: 

An old map from 1909:

   

map from 1863 with the brick field, Homesdale road by it’s old name, Brick Kiln Lane, and the field of drying racks:

Photo of bomb damage in 1940. In the background of this picture you can see heaps of rubble and further back the pit.

from Jane Evans:

“My husbands family sold the brickfield – we think late 1920s – have papers from buying not selling.  Have some anecdotal stuff – not least mires with cart horses dead in them…”

A report from the Bromley Times, from 1963, that Felix found:

“Bromley’s new oasis … what was an ugly brick works and later a tip for the local Gas Board, has now been converted by Bromley Council in to an attractive stretch of grassland which, during the long summer weeks of school holidays, should be a boon for mothers in the Bromley Common area”

The local history aspect of the park is still being worked on, and when finished, it will be on the Friends of Havelock Recreation Ground website.