The forty-five parks and green spaces at risk are all on the Council’s ‘low quality/low value’ list – a category that was invented by the Barnet Conservatives to justify investing less money in some parks.
Labour Childs Hill councillor, Anne Clarke, who raised the issue at the Full Council meeting said: “It is our duty to protect open spaces both for residents today and in future and to help protect our fragile environment.
“There are four low value parks listed in the ward I serve, including the very much-loved Basing Hill and Elm Park. Basing Hill has seen a large increase in use in recent years, including the wonderful Herts Baseball Club and programmes run by The Hope of Childs Hill.
“While pretending to protect our parks, the Conservatives have hatched another terrible plan this time to restrict access and reduce space in them to make money. And the plan is for this to be done in the parks starved of funds in the fictitious ‘low quality / low value’ category.
“I asked every Conservative councillor at the meeting to look at the list of 45 green spaces and ask themselves if they would want to see a loss of space in their ward. They all refused to drop the plan to build these solar farms on our parks.
“This scheme needs to be scrapped, so I appeal to the public to sign and share our petition.”
- A link to the petition can be found here: https://www.barnetlabour.org.uk/2021/01/19/stop-building-on-barnets-parks-petition/
- A copy of Cllr Clarke’s motion can be found here: https://barnet.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s62975/Opposition%20Amendment%20to%20Opposition%20Motion%2014.2.pdf
- A copy of the 45 parks deemed ‘low quality/low value’ can be found here: https://barnet.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s28489/Figure%20AI.13%20-%20Low%20ValueQuality%20and%20Undesignated%20Sites.pdf
- A copy of the Environment Committee budget proposals including this scheme can be found here (Line ENV12): https://barnet.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s61216/Appendix%20A%20-%20Business%20Planning%20Savings%20Template%20Environment%20Committee%20-%20MASTER%20v12.pdf