Report on Proceedings of AGM & General meeting, held at 7.30pm on Nov 8th 2022 at Southgate Compton Cricket Club, Chalk Lane, Barnet. With added explanatory notes.
AGM – The Chairman opened the AGM and welcomed 21 members and guests:
- Cllr Alessandro Georgiou
- Cllr Edward Smith
- Cllr. Ruby Sampson
- Colin Bull, Chair CLARA
The minutes of the previous meeting, having been distributed, were agreed.
ANNUAL ELECTION OF OFFICERS:
The following candidates were presented for approval and voted in to hold office for 2022/3:
- Chairman – Peter W Gibbs
- Vice Chair and Treasurer – Carol Fisk
- Membership secretary – Brenda Nathan
The Friends Committee was also proposed and approved to serve for another year comprising the above officers of the Friends plus:
- Juliet Barnett [representing Trent Park Conservation Committee – TPCC]
- Ronald Cohen
- Tony Hillman
- Carol Langran
- Shanna Marrinan
- Stefanie Thann
- Tony Claydon
Additional Committee members always welcome. Please volunteer.
TREASURER’S REPORT
CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
The value of the park and all the other open spaces in Enfield could not be more significant – large development schemes are afoot and each expansion of the borough’s population (currently 333,00 and rising to 400,000 by 2039) means an even greater reliance on open space for health, recreation and community cohesion.
Enfield council has steadily removed support from parks, despite issuing assurances that open space is valued. Assets have languished and maintenance fallen well into arrears.
TCP was managed for some years via a 3-year maintenance and improvements plan which was discussed annually with Friends. (TCP was awarded Green Flag status for some years but LBE withdrew from the scheme promising the park would be maintained to the same standard. It has not) The park plan was abolished prior to Covid, and TCP now receives only the minimal attention required to permit it to remain open for public visiting. Conservation has been withdrawn.
Discussions with Enfield Council continue with the aim of progressing all items identified by the Friends and required to keep TCP in former condition. Councillors are sympathetic but none of that translates into action. Of late, the response has been that events’ revenues will be spent on parks, but there Is no evidence this is so, sustaining our argument that oversized commercial events in fact contribute nothing positive, only wear and tear and quite a lot of damage. There is no evidence that parks have a champion within Enfield council – parks have no voters so no one really cares, excepting our ward councillors.
The Council has not withdrawn its financial objective, namely to move the whole parks estate on to a self-funding basis. The Friends regard this as totally unachievable without major loss of amenity and quality in the parks estate, and so reject it.
The Friends have contributed volunteer hours this year, resulting in restoration of the seating area in the water garden and improvements in pathways and steps. We are ready to do more if the council can throw off its lethargy and take a positive view. Our list of further suggestions has been tabled and will be pressed.
The Treasurer’s report demonstrates our success this year in bringing added support for improvements to the park for all to enjoy. It’s up to the council to undertake the basic items such as repairing 2 of the kids’ area swings – now over a year derelict.
Along with residents, the Friends continue to press the Council to desist from increasing the programme of massive events in the park – intrusions which are pressed on us in the name of revenue generation. Events are not cost free at all. Damage to the exhibition ground from 2021 remains visible and our character gateway has been damaged for the third time with cosmetic repairs only- all caused by over-sized event contractor vehicles, which the council is belatedly coming to recognise cannot be squeezed through the gate. Repairs always take at least a year because Enfield council is so disorganised.
We note that Broomfield residents revolted earlier this year against a plan to hold a major drinks festival in their park – LBE relented. Clearly, when sufficient objections are presented, the council will listen. TCP needs more vocal representation from residents.
In view of the council’s lack of response, the chair asked all Friends to undertake to write direct to officers and controlling councillors when they spot matters needing attention in the park, cc The Friends. By writing in twice a year, boosting the committee’s efforts, so making the public’s views plain to LBE, we may expect improvements.
PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS: Members are requested earnestly to address concerns to us and also make their views known via the following LBE councillors / officers:
- Leader of Enfield Council: Cllr.nesil.caliskan@enfield.gov.uk
- Cabinet Member for Environment and Sustainability: Cllr.Chinelo.Anyanwu@enfield.gov.uk
- Assistant Cabinet Member cllr.chris.james@enfield.gov.uk
- Cockfosters Ward local councillors: Cllr.Alessandro.Georgiou@enfield.gov.uk Cllr.Ruby.Sampson@enfield.gov.uk
- Conservative lead for parks: cllr.Edward.Smith@enfield.gov.uk
- Senior Operations Manager for Parks: Marcus.harvey@enfield.gov.uk
- Enfieldletters@london.newsquest.co.uk
- Enfield’s website has a “Report it” facility to notify anything untoward seen in the park. LBE promises to scrutinise all reports and take appropriate action. https://new.enfield.gov.uk/services/leisure-and-culture/parks-and-open-spaces/parks/
The AGM was then closed.
GENERAL MEETING
Events Programme (Colin Bull of CLARA)Residents had campaigned for 7 years to bring commercial events in TCP under control. This year LBE restrained promoters to no more than 10k attendees per day. No substantive reason given, other than election year. Partly as a result, no major events took place this year, only two at about 5000 attendees each – Ghana and Mauritius. But the council will not clarify its intentions for 2023.
Everyone supports community events in the park of a size commensurate with the facilities in the park and the need to respect quality of life for neighbouring residents.
Efforts to control events traffic and parking, and the impact on the area were not successful in 2021 and continue to be a matter of consultation between CLARA / Friends and officers from the two adjacent boroughs. However, there is a limit to the additional costs promoters could bear. Nobody wants to chase away suitable promoters with disproportionate costs. CLARA is working to find a suitable way forward.
LBE Parks policy (Cllr Edward Smith) The Conservative opposition group is working hard to press the case on the council for moderation in usage of the parks and TCP especially. The group is far from convinced there were any net revenue gains from major events after all costs were taken into account.
The council’s latest “Blue Green” environment strategy was unconvincing; it planned to re-wild large parts of the north of the borough, buying out famers’ tenancies. The precise outlook would be clearer when the next stage of the Local Development Plan was brought forward, probably early in 2023.
This all sits against a background of serious financial pressures within LBE, arising from inefficiencies, bad decisions and over-spending on development projects, especially Meridian Water.
Local Plan / ERW (Carol Fisk)
Enfield Road Watch was set up 7 years ago to resist unwarranted development of green belt along Enfield Road/ Bramley Rd. It has now joined with other groups to resist the transformative proposals announced in Enfield Council’s draft local Development Plan. The key objections surround the huge development proposed for Vicarage Farm (Enfield Rd) Hadley Wood, and Crews Hill, amounting to over half the 25,000 new houses proposed by 2029. If approved and built, Enfield would be transformed and the quality of life for current residents substantially threatened.
ERW mounted a petition earlier this year which was well supported, and led to a debate in Council a month ago, at which the administration agreed to special measures to ensure full consultation by the public and all councillors. This is important for TCP because without moderation, large tracts of land close to the park will be opened for building; in the current climate this could well be over-height tower accommodation, with severe impact on the environmental and heritage value of much of western Enfield.
All groups including Friends reject gross exploitation of the Green Belt as not called for. Re-working “brownfield” sites across the borough, fulfilling regeneration opportunities in wards with older less efficient properties is the obvious first choice.
After the next stage of consultation, the draft plan will be put to a housing inspector for detailed analysis. It is anticipated clearance will not take place until later next year, or 2024. Friends should pay close attention to the debate and be prepared to weigh in. The new Local Plan will set the shape of the borough for the next two decades.
Borough development Policy (Cllr. Alex Georgiou)
Cllr. Georgiou spoke of his group’s determination to reshape development policy to meet the need for housing mostly from brownfield, ie previously developed, land. His group were entirely opposed to building into the Green Belt.
Meanwhile Inappropriate and overly-dense developments will continue to be resisted at planning stage, working closely with local resident’s groups.
Changes in national planning policy should be watched closely, hopefully offering a more positive scenario.
Volunteering with The Friends
Friends of Trent Park would welcome more volunteers to assist in all sorts of work in the park to enhance and improve the facilities and their presentation to the public. Some help with email writing and attending meetings to press our case is always valuable, but there is spade work for those able to undertake it. Those with horticultural knowledge, legal experience, sports backgrounds, architectural and planning experience, social media outreach skills, event planning and management, and fund-raising experience, are especially needed, but we also welcome anyone who can spare a few hours canvassing in the park for new members and helping with other one-off tasks.
Social Media
Please Like our Facebook page and share it with friends and family. This is the first place to look for news of events, alerts or just pretty pictures of the park. We would like to increase our Twitter and Instagram activity. If anyone can help, please get in touch. And thiswebsite has lots of good information about the park, council contacts, etc.
Next Friends meeting
The next meeting is planned for May 2023. A further newsletter will be issued early next year.
Meeting closed 20.50hrs.
Report by Peter W Gibbs, Chairman