Please write to the Scrutiny Committee today!

To Our Supporters,

As we have said before, Havelock Rec is NOT saved yet and we need to keep campaigning and writing; 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.

If this is permitted, an unwelcome precedent of building on green space will be set and it could well be other local parks that are considered for development next. You can read more about Bromley Council’s policy here –http://www.bromley.gov.uk/UDP/written/cpt8.htm

Here’s who you need to write to (you can copy and paste this list into your email):
eric.bosshard@bromley.gov.uk
nicholas.bennett@bromley.gov.uk
william@ocat.co.uk
russell.mellor@bromley.gov.uk
Samaris.Huntington-Thresher@bromley.gov.uk
ellie.harmer@bromley.gov.uk
peter.fookes@bromley.gov.uk
tony.owen@bromley.gov.uk
ian.payne@bromley.gov.uk
pauline.tunnicliffe@bromley.gov.uk
will.harmer@bromley.gov.uk
kate.lymer@bromley.gov.uk
david.Livett@bromley.gov.uk
keith.onslow@bromley.gov.uk
douglas.auld@bromley.gov.uk
ian.dunn@bromley.gov.uk

See our helpful website page for some points to make – click here!

14th March 2015- Bulb planting –

The Friends of Havelock are having a bulb planting/ litter picking morning on Sat 14th March at 11am in the park!! Would be great to see you there!!

other news:

Questions to the Education Policy Development and Scrutiny Committee

Friends of Friends – joining up with other Friends groups

Save the date! Big Lunch on Sunday 7th June

Questions to the Education Policy Development and Scrutiny Committee

The council update did not mean the Rec is safe from development. Havelock Rec is still the Education Funding Agency’s preferred site for the school.

The questions, which hope to highlight to the committee members that they are setting a bad precedent if they let the Education Funding Agency (EFA) build on our park, and that the size of the building put forward by the EFA’s is unlikely to be sufficient (so they would need more of the field) are:

(1) does the Committee feel that the Council should break their UDP policies and set the precedent of the Education Funding Agency building on Bromley open space to provide school places, or should the Education Funding Agency be required to use brown field or office space?

(2) should the committee recommend the council to allow the Education Funding Agency to lease 4 acres of Havelock Recreation Ground when the agreed procedures require 7.5 acres (with more space or height needed later), or should the EFA be required to provide more realistic proposals?

I will also be allowed to ask a ‘supplementary’ question on the day, and is open to suggestions as to what this might be.

There is another important Scrutiny decision meeting on March 12th and we need to let them know our objections. So act now and email them, before it’s too late. We have provided email addresses below.

We will save this park and secure it for our children and future residents! As we’re democratic, there is a survey so we can build an action plan.

PLEASE see if you can find a moment to fill this in. We will have to fundraise to provide anything new, so the list doesn’t include toilets or a childrens’ play area – even picnic benches are at least £300 but we’re open to any ideas to provide a more ‘all weather’ track around the outside for minimal cost.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7B7RP7K

Thanks for your continued support – we hope to see as many people as possible for the bulb planting on 14th March 11am.

Kerry Hood
Chair, Friends of Havelock Recreation Ground

Friends of Friends

Representatives from the Friends of Havelock went along to meet other Friends groups in the borough, at a meet and greet. We have already secured a gift of £100 for completing their annual survey and they will be helping us source and erect a noticeboard.

Save the Date – Sunday 7th June 2015

The Big Lunch is a very simple idea from the Eden Project. The aim is to get as many people as possible from the whole of the UK to have lunch with their neighbours annually on the first Sunday in June in a simple act of community, friendship and fun.

Since starting in 2009, thousands of Big Lunches have taken place in all types of communities. In 2014, 4.83 million people took to their streets, gardens and community spaces for the sixth annual Big Lunch.

This year, we’ll be holding a Big Lunch on Havelock Rec for friends and neighbours to meet and have a party. Our community has rallied together in the face of adversity and this will be a great opportunity for us all to get together.

More details coming soon as well as posters, but please put the date in your diary.

If you have any questions, comments, ideas or would like to help organise the event, please emailbexdavies74@hotmail.com

Press coverage

More press coverage in the News Shopper, but let’s not stop there!!

Please find the time to write a Letter to the Editor at the News Shopper and the Bromley Times to keep this discussion alive – people think that the letter from the council means our recreation ground is safe and we know it is not!

Here’s the Newshopper information:http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/opinion/letters/sendaletter/