Friends of Down Lane Park (FDLP) Campaigning for a Better Park

Friends of Down Lane Park are campaigning for:

Renovations and improvements to the park facilities.

Better services including better security in the park.

Community/sports development staff to train, run leagues and involve local young people

Green Flag award for Park

News

● Alarm!

A bombshell has stopped us in our tracks. Haringey Cabinet has approved the principle (21st July 2009) of building new housing development around and on Down Lane Park and has agreed to send this for community consultation. (see Save Our Park for exact wording of minutes)

If passed after consultation housing will be built on the southern section below the red line.

Land on the southern section of the park will be taken away and built on and some land from the recycling centre will be added.

The red line is the demarcation of the proposed park after development on the southern section.

We are appalled and flabbergasted at this threatened loss of a substantial and valuable part of the park.

FDLP have started to mount a public campaign to save our park.

Facilities which would have to be moved from their present location in the southern section into the remaining smaller park are the childrens playground, basketball court, tennis courts, sports changing rooms, toilets, some flower beds and a pre-school community nursery. The bowling green may also need to be moved.
Down Lane Park is also known as Down Lane Recreation Ground.

=====================================================================

Why: ?

Haringey Council decided mid 2008 to move the Park View Road Recycling Centre to Marsh Lane. Instead of funding this move through normal procedures it decided to raise the money through selling land for development. Land in the vacated recycling centre and the southern section of Down Lane Park would be sold to raise enough capital (we hear £10-20 million) to fund the move of the recycling centre.

The proposition as put before us now is to build blocks of flats, 5 stories at the top and 8 stories in the bottom of the park. The park will have high rise buildings on three sides destroying its openness.

The original Tottenham Hale Masterplan(2006) did not envisage building on the southern section of the park.

This new building proposition only came to be a public proposal in the second phase document “Transforming Tottenham Hale, Progress and Next Steps" July 21st 2009 when it was presented to cabinet.. Members agreed on the nod, without question, to ‘approve the principle’ of building on the southern end of Down Lane Park.

If all this were to go ahead precedents would be set for:

building on park land.
selling council land for development to finance capital projects.
building on land that has a major deteriorating impact on the local environment.

● Our vision for the area under threat:

Our Vision

SOUTHERN END OF PARK.

Made up of

1) Dark Green Area

A new children's play area with modern facilities and natural play areas for different age groups.

Renovated basketball courts and tennis courts and a new multi-sports facility replacing car park and depot and concrete area around them.

2) Rest of south of park

Childrens nursery, toilets & changing rooms and bowling club to remain as now.

3. Extend the park into the vacated recycling centre

["Our Vision" map is modified from the planners Plan2 map above]

Please watch this site for news. Together lets build a campaign against this proposal such that Haringey Council will scrap it and instead get on with the vital job of renovating the park, already disgracefully neglected for over a generation. (see earlier progress in
Play Area section)

More on Save Our Park

Back toTop

● Summary of the case for improving Down Lane Park and not building on it:

Down Lane Park facilities need expanding/ improving/ renewing to cater for local children needs which are extremely high.
Very high no of children and young people in built up area,
Compounded by pockets of severe deprivation
(See detail Points 1, 2, 3 below).

Housing development will add to the number of children needing park : Numbers will be higher still when new population added.
(Detail Point 3 below).

Present park facilities are neglected , unrepaired and inadequate
(Detail Point 4 )

Haringey in 2006 committed itself "to enhance the park and improve the southern section , which could include a new children's play area and new youth facilities". but has not yet carried it out.
(Detail Points 5, 6, 7)

Housing development on park will have deleterious environmental effect on the park and the area.
Detailed point 8

The swap proposed lessens and narrows the park and delays new facilities
Detailed point 9

Haringey is now consulting on the proposal to build housing on the park despite
not carrying out commitments made at two previous consultations,(1989 & 2006),

the proposal contradicting its own open land policies and the original Masterplan,

flaws in the consultation process
(Detail Points 10, 11,12)

S106 (planning gain) money (£1.5 million) can be allocated to the park at no cost to Haringey finances and work can begin immediately.
(Detail Point 12)

●Details and Evidence:

Preface:“Tottenham Hale benefits from a diverse, vibrant and entrepreneurial local community that live around the area. This population is characterised by a high proportion of young people and high levels of unemployment and deprivation.” Tottenham Hale Masterplan 2006 (THMP)

1. High demand from high no of children in area
There are very high numbers of young children in Tottenham Hale – the Haringey Childcare Sufficiency Assessment sets out the GLA data for 2007 and future projections. Children and families in Haringey (PDF)
According to this data Tottenham Hale has: The second highest under 16 population in Haringey - 25.9% The second highest under 19 (3614) , the second highest number of children ages 5-9. The third highest number of 0s-4s Tottenham Hale 1,052 2001 Gensus Data: Ward Profile "Tottenham Hale" (PDF) Population : very mixed housing 12,000 units, 5251 flats, 51% live in flats, 1177 Council units High no of toddlers and young children who need large children’s facilities, High number of youth who need good quality play areas, sports areas, youth areas and sports development staff to involve and engage young people in sports.
2. High demand from difficult circumstances:
‘Poverty in London’ states that Haringey emerges as the most deeply divided of the 32 boroughs (for example, as measured by the high number of both rich wards and poor wards within its boundary). Tottenham Hale falls within the 10% most deprived wards in England (2007 Index of Multiple Deprivation). Parts of the Ward to the west and north of the park have deprivation which is amongst the worst 5% in the all of the UK Indices of Deprivation 2007, Rank of IMD, Haringey SOAs (PDF 323KB) Tottenham Hale has: the highest percentage of single parent families of any ward -15.5% highest number of properties used for temporary accommodation – 355. Has relatively low car ownership.50 % of families are without cars so they cannot drive to parks with good facilities. 51% of population live in flats
3. Higher demand again from expanded population
Haringey’s Tottenham Hale (2006) building target is for 2500 housing units. This is estimated to be about 10,000 new people in the area perhaps 1500 children. The first phase ,the GLS site, started in 2006.This major scheme will eventually comprise over 1,000 new homes plus a hotel, student accommodation, offices, retail space, a primary school and health centre. It will be almost self sufficient for children, having a generous central public park with a children’s playground, crèche and school at its heart. However residents there will still need Down Lane Park for youth facilities. The second phase , even the original 2006 version, envisage around 1600 housing units much of which will be family housing and will be all near to Down Lane Park.
4. Down Lane Park
Down Lane Park is the only full park in Tottenham Hale and also the only one east of the high road from the top of Northumberland park to the bottom of Tottenham Hale and up to Tottenham Green. Down Lane Park’s children’s playarea has limited and old play equipment. It has two sets of swings and two sets of slides and a pagoda frame and two sets of makeout huts. Parent of toddler says “the swings are mostly chewed by dogs and often hanging so wonkily you can't use them”. See photos on Play Area page. The playground is used by a mix of toddlers, older children, teenagers making out, speeding bikes and dogs. Toddlers are often scared by older children.. This is the only facility for an area with a high number of children. Sports /youth facilities consist of two tennis courts and one basketball court. They are underused, old and needing repair. Giving the numbers of young people in the ward and high unemployment which is going to get higher the need is for this equipment to be renovated. Above all sports development staff are needed to engage and involve young people.
5. Tottenham Hale Masterplan (THMP) 2006 commitment.
Tottenham Hale Masterplan (2006) envisaged an “enhanced Down Lane Recreation Ground” a number of times throughout the document. It talked specifically about “improving the southern section” and said “facilities at the improved recreation ground could include new youth facilities and a new children's playground”. The Government created two funds to support the delivery of infrastructure in local areas where housing development takes place;
	1) Growth Area Fund: Money allocated for improvements to infrastructure supplied by the Government year on year alongside housing developments.
	2) S106 Money legislated for the developer to contract to pay to the council for improving/expanding local resources(schools, health, parks, etc) to meet increased need and so as not to disadvantage existing residents. In the case of Tottenham Hale Masterplan, Lea Valley Estates agreed to pay £10 million for a range of improvements around the GLS site . That includes £1.75million for educational improvements, £5million for improved social facilities and environmental improvements, and £1.77million for transport improvements around the GLS site and the Tottenham Hale interchange.
6. Haringey neglected to provide improvements despite promises and great opportunities.
GAF : Haringey neglected to apply for GAF funding for Down Lane Park in 2007 when it was almost definite it would get it. Down Lane Park is at the very heart of the master plan area. Haringey applied for Down Lane Park to GAF the following year. This time Haringey only got a small fraction of what it asked for. It was up to Haringey to choose which projects and Down Lane Park was way down the list. In May 2009 two months before the Cabinet approved the principle of building on the park it passed a resolution allocating £65,000 of GAF money towards designing a new children’s playground. S106.: The developer has contracted to pay Haringey £5million for environment improvements. Nothing has been allocated of this money for Down Lane Park though it is very relevant to the terms of the contract. Meanwhile Haringey Council has not collected £2million of the £5 million owed, since April 2008 ( £1million) and April 2009 (another £1million). Again two months before the July approval of building on the park it was also suggested to us by officers that £296,000 for building the playground might be forthcoming from the S106 money. Also a few days after the cabinet decision about building on the park an officer suggested the £1.5 million of the S106 money owed could be allocated to Down Lane Park if the Cabinet so willed.
7.Other sources of funding:

Other sources of funding: There has been a boom in the improvements of parks across the country in the last 5 years. The Lottery Fund did a survey of parks across the country and describes how it happened (Publications And Infomation "Public Parks" ) “ More recently, a number of initiatives have been put in place by government to help enhance urban green space. These policies, together with significant investment from the National Lottery, and the Heritage Lottery Fund, have helped reverse the fortunes of many of our public parks". Other sources of funding has come from national sports and play funds. Local government have chosen the parks for improvement and sometimes added their own money. Haringey has done well out of these funds. It has obtained from them some wonderful improvements in many of its parks. However Haringey has never applied to any of these funds for Down Lane Park despite the needs of the area and its 2006 commitment. The Lottery Fund survey report concluded that “there is evidence that good parks are getting better while poor parks are getting worse” and “Parks that are provided in the most deprived areas are generally in poorer condition and their decline is continuing;”
8. Housing development on park will have deleterious environmental effect on the park and the area.
The proposed housing development will have a deleterious effect on the park and the local area. If it goes ahead there will be high rise on three sides of the park making it more closed and lacking in light. Housing on the southern end of the park (eight stories) and at the top of the park in the recycling centre (five stories) will dwarf the small terraced housing nearby. The proposed housing itself will be dense in both areas and will be right up against heavy traffic in the southern end of the park Housing planned for the recycling centre is near very small terraced housing. A recent development at Park View Road near the recycling centre has two story housing near the terraced housing and deeper in has a maximum of three floors of flats. This extra housing has not been allocated any new resources, schools, health, cars, children despite the fact that it is extra to the original Tottenham Hale Masterplan. These developments have nothing like the space that was allocated to the GLS site. Down Lane Park is a small park (7 hectares) and the only park east of the High Road between the top of Northumberland Park and the bottom of Tottenham Hale except for a small open space Hartington Park. This latter (one hectare) was created when land was reclaimed after demolitions a few years ago and is now a very valuable resource. This creation of more open space is very much in line with Haringey’s declared aspirations. Friends of Down Lane Park want the vacated recycling centre to be added to the park as park land to fulfil current and extra need for more playing space. (eg bring back cricket , lost in the previous loss of land in 1989). Neither Friends of Down Lane Park nor local residents opposed the original Tottenham Hale Masterplan for 2500 housing units, a hotel and 700 flats for students.
9. Swap proposed by Haringey's Cabinet 21st July 2009:
The Cabinet report 21st July 2009 sets out a plan to build a housing estate on the southern section of the park and proposes to add part of a vacated recycling centre to the park in recompense. It does claim that there will be no net loss of publicly-accessible space but does not claim that there will be no net loss of park land. In fact the land added in recompense is 10% less than the land taken to build on. Maths; Southern section 1.92., original park 6.92 hectares, new park 6.72. More importantly some facilities will have to be replaced to the central area of the park making this open area narrower.The central area of the park has currently a variable no (2 or 3) full football pitches. On weekends especially groups of local young football players with their volunteer coaches as well as families play their games and need space outside the larger football matches area . This playing area was also narrowed in the previous swap in 1989. *Note: Our vision of the renovation/regeneration of the park includes a sports complex, part of which could be sited along the side of the park where the basketball court, area maintenance depot and commuter car park are now situated. Our scenario would leave the present width of the central of the park untouched. It also includes enhancing the park by adding the vacated recycling centre cleaned up and grassed to the park
10. Haringey's UDP 2006:
Haringey's cabinet's, on 21st July 2009, approval of the principle of building on open land is completely opposite to the policy adopted in 2006 in the Unitary Development Plan (UDP).Haringey Council adopted its UDP on 17 July 2006 setting out policies in how land is used within our borough. Haringey UDP (PDF 281KB) The UDP states emphatically: "Existing open spaces should not be built on unless an assessment shows the open space is surplus to requirements". Also the original Tottenham Hale Masterplan (2006) tates “Down Lane Recreation Ground is designated as Significant Local Open Land. The Down Lane Recreation Ground is a Site of Local Importance and as such, it is considered to be of particular value to nearby residents and schools”. Building on Down Lane Park would set a precedent for the borough.
11. Previous swap
Malcolm From: “I was part of the campaign to save Down Lane Park from development when they proposed to build the Technopark in the 1980s.. The important point is that the technopark development was only agreed on the basis that the land lost in the park would be replaced on a like for like basis. This is why the park was extended at the southern end where they now want to build "I will delighted to help you if I can” In the 1980s Haringey Council cut away the eastern section of the park and created a road and Techopark from it. The rationale was to create jobs for Haringey people. Its’ employment objective failed dismally and now the new Haringey proposal is to knock down the Technopark and build a mix of housing /employment. The road will still stand. A good amount of the southern section never got converted into either grass or park facility and is still concrete and built on. It has a car park for commuters.!! So much for like for like. Today the children’s play area has limited and poor facilities (wonky swings etc) and the sports area is equally in poor shape. Installed in the 1980s and unmaintained since. David Winskill writes: “I should declare an interest as the founder Secretary of The Railway Taverners CC. We used to play at Tottenham Hale's Down Lane Park in the early 1980s. When the North/South route was built the park lost some land and we were moved away. Despite promises from Haringey Councillors that cricket would return, it never did, nor did we”. See our vision above: By removing the car park and maintenance depot from the park altogether and converting these and the concrete areas around them to relevant park facilities, the 1980s Haringey promise of ‘like for like’ would at last be fulfilled.
12.Consultation flaws:
We are also concerned that there is no commitment to creating a new playground and youth facilities in option one even though there is de facto that commitment in the swap option. Previous commitment from consultation in 2006 is still not fulfilled & is omitted from this consultation Previous swap in the 1980s also narrowed the park and also didn’t fulfil its promise of “like for like” eg tube commuter car park is not “like for like” with grass area. This cabinet proposal claims to provide new facilities but in reality only delays the renovation of the park. See our vision above: The promise made by Haringey in 2006 to ‘improve the southern section’of the park would be on course to be fulfilled by implementing our vision..
13.S106 money still available
Officers have said to us that "The Hale Village s106 includes provision for various payments including £5m. to be paid by the developers Lea Valley Estates in instalments for community and environmental improvements in the Tottenham Hale area.” “As regards the payment of that money by Lee Valley Estates, two of the 5 x £1m. payments are overdue, the other 3 payments have not yet been ‘triggered’ by sufficient dwelling completions. The Council is negotiating with Lee Valley Estates on when these payments will be made but I suspect it may be some months before there is a firm outcome to these negotiations”. “If any of this s106 money (when it is received) is allocated by the Council’s Cabinet to the Park then I can see no reason why it should not be used for any improvements in the Park or community buildings/facilities in the Park as deemed appropriate”. We say: Haringey Council could grant the £1.5 million from its own funds for the park and reclaim the money from Lea Valley Estates in its own time, charging interest for the loan given. Resolution for Haringey Council: We insist that Haringey’s Cabinet readopt the principle that park land is sacrosanct and that no part of Down Lane Park be taken for development ever. Instead Haringey should fulfill the commitment in the original 2006 Tottenham Hale Masterplan to enhance the park and improve the southern section of the park which includes the children's play area and youth facilities" We call upon Haringey’s cabinet to fulfil this commitment to improve the southern section of Down lane Park as follows: Insist on the payment of the £2 million owed by the developers. If it is not forthcoming right away use Haringey finances to supply the £2 million and get it back with interest from Lea Valley Estates later on. Allocate £1.5 million of it immediately to the enhancement of Down Lane Park, £300,000 for a new children's playground and the rest on creating new /renovated youth facilities. More on Save Our Park

FDLP(Friends of Down Lane Park) Meeting

Next Meeting
on Tues January 19th 2010
from 6:30pm to 7:30pm
at the Welbourne Community Centre

This meeting will be discussing aspects of our campaign to save our park. Our objective is to mobilise the local community, all Haringey's friends of parks and resident groups, all environment groups and all politicians, groups & individuals who are willing to take a principle stand to protect our park.