WALTHAMSTOW: Multi-million pound makeover for park (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

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WALTHAMSTOW: Multi-million pound makeover for park

1:43pm Wednesday 7th May 2008

comment Comments (13) Have your say »

By Mhairi Macfarlane »

THE borough's premier park is in line for a multi-million pound makeover after succeeding in the first part of a Lottery bid.

The linked Lloyd and Aveling parks, in Walthamstow, have been granted £167,000 to develop detailed plans to bring in a further £3.5million of lottery funds towards a £4.2million regeneration scheme. The balance will come from the council.

Restoration of the central entrance and footpaths, improved children's play areas, the re-design and planting of shrubs and trees, building a new Changing Room gallery, cafe and toilets, improved seating, lighting, dog bins and signs throughout are all on the wish list.

The development grant has come from the Heritage Lottery and Big Lottery Funds' Parks for People Initiative.

Cabinet member for leisure, arts and culture, Cllr Geraldine Reardon, said: "This is great news for the park and the many people who live nearby.

"Our scheme aims comprehensively to restore and revitalise the park and provide better facilities for residents to enjoy.

"Thanks to investment from the Lottery, we can now go ahead and develop these innovative plans further."

The Friends of Lloyd Park were delighted by the announcement as the group has been urging the council to bid for funds since it was formed in 2004.

Member Mairi Johnson said: "It is fantastic news that we have been awarded Stage 1 funding, but the real work starts now.

"There is now a chance for everyone with interest in the park to have their say in the detailed design."

The council is already preparing a Stage 2 Lottery bid to be submitted by next March, and will be working with consultants and technical experts to produce a design that will both benefit the community and meet lottery guidelines.

* Cute animals, maypole dancing and a chance to wrestle in Sumo suits are among the attractions at a family fun day in the two parks on Sunday.

Children can win a special prize if they wear the best fancy dress outfit at the Friends of the Parks family fun day, in Forest Road, Walthamstow.

Youngsters can enjoy petting animals visiting from Brooks Farm, in Leyton, and there will an opportunity to tour a fire engine.

Children can also enjoy a beat the goalie, a bouncy castle, balloon modelling, and face painting.

Refreshments will include cakes baked by students at Waltham Forest College.

The fun begins at noon and runs until 4pm and there will be a small charge per activity to cover the cost of the event.

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Your Say Your Guardian

technomist, walthamstow says...
4:00pm Wed 7 May 08

This is excellent news. Well done.

What would be helpful is for the council and police to get a grip on crime in the area so we will all be able to enjoy it when the work is done and so it doesn't get trashed. Good luck with the next stage and thank you very much to everyone for all your efforts.

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mr Khalid, walthastow says...
5:57pm Wed 7 May 08

is jokeded speneded this monys trees and flours for the idots chids go crezy mugeded the parson try anjays this place? no policemens see in park just the idots and the mugered parson

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Dave, Chingford says...
10:24pm Wed 7 May 08

'Mr Khalid' your stupid infantile 'spelling mistakes' are getting VERY annoying now. Please go away, it was not funny the first time it certainly is Not funny now. Grow up!

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the marksman, everywhere says...
11:12pm Wed 7 May 08

if anybody would like to know who mr khalid is email me at letsshootmrkhalid.co
m

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mdj, e10 says...
12:46am Thu 8 May 08

I think people should check what's actually on offer before they celebrate: many mature trees will be destroyed, and a lot of the work involves reshuffling at great expense what's already there. In a period of increasing inflation, a fixed price budget over several years may run out of funds, having destroyed existing facilities at the outset, before the new facilities are built. This sadly seems like another example of top-down activity which generates lots of lovely fees for consultants, but doesn't ask local people at the outset what they want, which is probably just a better-maintained and staffed park with decent loos and rain shelters. Many of the existing park-keepers are being sacked under the new maintenance contract. The Council wanted to demolish the Borough's only theatre as part of this scheme, in favour of an 'open-air drama space' (er...it rains in England, chaps: the Greek Theatre players at the Girls school are thinking of packing it in after too many soakings), until the Lottery explained that they don't fund demolition, so they're trying to find other ways of'achieving' (their word) the same result.
At a public meeting I asked Cllr Geraldine Reardon why vast sums were to be spent on a Victorian-style garden in front of the Gallery (which was never there in Morris' day), while the Keeper of the Gallery was losing his job: she hotly and repeatedly denied that he was. We all know that Councillors never lie, but Mr Cormack doesn't seem to be around any more, does he? It was only when the Lottery said that cuts at the Gallery endangered the bid that the Council back-pedalled fast and put some more money in, which completely invalidates their reason for dumping the Keeper. Never forget that last year the Council was secretly negotiating to get the entire Morris collection out of Walthamstow altogether to a proposed new museum, which had the minor drawback of not actually existing yet.The very creative development scheme for extending the Gallery was largely conceived by the very staff who were bullied out of their jobs by the Council now trying to claim credit for their efforts.

I think people should check what's actually on offer before they celebrate: many mature trees will be destroyed, and a lot of the work involves reshuffling at great expense what's already there. In a period of increasing inflation, a fixed price budget over several years may run out of funds, having destroyed existing facilities at the outset, before the new facilities are built. This sadly seems like another example of top-down activity which generates lots of lovely fees for consultants, but doesn't ask local people at the outset what they want, which is probably just a better-maintained and staffed park with decent loos and rain shelters. Many of the existing park-keepers are being sacked under the new maintenance contract. The Council wanted to demolish the Borough's only theatre as part of this scheme, in favour of an 'open-air drama space' (er...it rains in England, chaps: the Greek Theatre players at the Girls school are thinking of packing it in after too many soakings), until the Lottery explained that they don't fund demolition, so they're trying to find other ways of'achieving' (their word) the same result. At a public meeting I asked Cllr Geraldine Reardon why vast sums were to be spent on a Victorian-style garden in front of the Gallery (which was never there in Morris' day), while the Keeper of the Gallery was losing his job: she hotly and repeatedly denied that he was. We all know that Councillors never lie, but Mr Cormack doesn't seem to be around any more, does he? It was only when the Lottery said that cuts at the Gallery endangered the bid that the Council back-pedalled fast and put some more money in, which completely invalidates their reason for dumping the Keeper. Never forget that last year the Council was secretly negotiating to get the entire Morris collection out of Walthamstow altogether to a proposed new museum, which had the minor drawback of not actually existing yet.The very creative development scheme for extending the Gallery was largely conceived by the very staff who were bullied out of their jobs by the Council now trying to claim credit for their efforts.

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technomist, walthamstow says...
5:33am Thu 8 May 08

Thanks very much for giving that background, mjd. I had obviously only been given a partial insight into what seemed like a rare bit of local good news in the article.

And of course, on re-reading, I do see the dreadful word 'consultants', which usually means 'scam' in Waltham Forest. I wonder how they managed without 'consultants' when the hanging Gardens of Babylon, the gardens at the AlHambra or at Versailles were being laid out, or even, for that matter, when the park was first set up? Looks like 'Trebles all round', as they say in Private Eye.

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CG, Chingford says...
11:46am Thu 8 May 08

Thanks for that mjd.

I think LLoyd Park is pretty nice already all that needs to be done is to police it better so that what is there is not trashed.

there are other parks in the borough that could do with that money i would suggest.

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Sceptic, E17 says...
12:18pm Thu 8 May 08

Has anyone seen plans for this, or been invited to give their ideas about what they'd like in Lloyd Park? Genuine question. Local people should have been consulted about such a big change to a popular spot, but maybe I missed one.

If not, I have to say this sounds like yet another of this council's grandiose plans that cost millions and leave us with something worse than we had before. (Like libraries, arcade, cinema etc etc.)

At present we've got a beautiful park with a useful theatre and art-exhibition spaces. It could benefit from some tidying and a few more plantings.

What we don't want is any more building in this rare green space.

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Dave Hall, Walthamstow says...
6:34pm Sun 11 May 08

You really have to ask which load of consultants designed the proposed new gardens. There's no suggestion that the scheme will restore the gardens as William Morris knew them. They are certainly not the type of garden that Morris would have designed himself - if you can, take a look at pictures of the gardens at the Red House, Morris's house, which were designed by Morris. They look much more like the traditional English Garden, and not too unlike the garden currently in Lloyd Park.
I showed the planned design, as printed in "Pravda" (WFM), to a gardener, and he thought it was a very high-maintenance garden. Now, is a council that hates paying for toilet attendants, park keepers and the like really going to spend enough on keeping this type of garden in shape?
Who has asked for this sort of scheme?

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Tom G, Walthamstow says...
10:45am Tue 20 May 08

This is worrying indeed. As far as I can see, Waltham Forest Council are seriously lacking in the taste department when it comes to 'improving' things like this. Stainless steel, neon blue street lights, neon blue christmas lights (!), they chose the most way-out and ugly design for the new arcade site (that thankfully never got built), haven't bothered with the potentially beautiful art deco cinema, even the dog track (the best thing Walthamstow ever had) has now been disposed of, with the council granting planning permission for more crappy houses.

Already the picture of the proposed new gardens shown on the cover of WFM looks seriously dubious (something you might find at the front of a shopping centre maybe?)

What I want to know is, where are they getting their inspiration from? How about taking a look around some of London's more magnificent parks and gardens? Get out to some stately homes, see how it was really done, before cadding up the first thing that pops in to there heads!

What's next? Giving the William Morris Gallery a refurb? Get rid of those old fashioned original features? Fit it out with some plastic double glazed windows? Laminated flooring? Pebble dashing maybe??? Or how about the art deco town hall? That would look good covered in stone cladding!!

I suggest that if they can't do it properly, with some sympathetic style and taste, then don't do it at all.

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Tom G, Walthamstow says...
10:46am Tue 20 May 08

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Tom G, Walthamstow says...
10:47am Tue 20 May 08

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Tom G, Walthamstow says...
10:55am Tue 20 May 08

Is it me, or do I feel I'm repeating myself here?

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The moat round the island where William Morris's brothers and sisters played is one of the attractions of Lloyd Park. Now the park is in line for a multi-million pound makeover (EL8089-5)