A councillor has reproached his constituents’ plans to install children’s play equipment on Hackney’s common land.
Geoff Taylor, councillor for Victoria Ward in the centre of the photo, argued last week that the proposed construction of a set of swings on Well Street Common by the area’s user group threatens the grounds’ historic landscape and, without consultation, is anti-democratic.
“First the common got a fountain, then planting, now swings. Suddenly the area will stop looking like a common which, in ideal terms, is meant to be a flat piece of grass with a few trees. I like the idea of facilities but I don’t want fences, cafes, clubs.
“The common needs to retain its inherent character. Bit by bit it is turning into a park without the consent of local people,” he continued.
Over the past three years, the Well Street Common User Group have raised £5,000 for the installation of a swing set, which includes a toddler, junior and team swing. The proposed trio will sit on the common’s border with Groombridge Road, beside existing play equipment.
Well Street Common, which received a Green Flag Award in 2010, is lammas land, a medieval English concept that protects people’s rights to graze livestock on it, collect firewood or to cut turf for fuel.
Owing to this technicality, Hackney Council is unable to pass judgement on the proposals. The planning application and consultation have instead been passed to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Owen Paterson.
Well Street Common User Group secretary Caroline Gregory has dismissed Taylor’s attack as out of touch with the needs of locals: “Parents who use the common came up with the idea and the user group supported it.
She drew a contrast between the few “older men with no children” that had voiced objections and the many families that have welcomed the idea.
The consultation over the installation of the swings ends 19 November.
