Saving Battersea Park

Battersea Park is not only the jewel in the crown of Wandsworth Council which is responsible , on behalf of rate payers, for its management and care , but also one of London’s most historic, and best loved green spaces, south of the River but easily accessible from west and east London, and just across two Bridges, from Chelsea and Kensington and all points north.
The park has been part of my conscious life as a writer, journalist, local resident, and London citizen, for over fifty years. I remember as a child just how magical my first walks were amidst the water-fountains, and lakes, and trees walks, and feeling in awe of the variety of birds just a few yards away from the huge silent majesty of the Thames as it its tide swelled and flowed between Chelsea and Albert Bridges.
Later the Park drew me into a broader sense of community and a sense of the common good as I saw the role it could play in acting as a necessary check to the unbridled market forces of the Thatcher years, with rising property prices changing the landscape and demography of surrounding streets .
In the mid 1980’s I was a member of a small group of local residents that taking a cue from similar initiatives in other London green spaces from Holland Park to Kew, founded The Friends of Battersea Park as a registered charity with a strong sense of conviction that what gave this part if London its special character should not be left to the whims of developers, entrepreneurs, and partisan political interests.
The Friends over the years has grown as an organisation by sticking to its founding principles to preserve the Park as an oasis of tranquility where users can rest, play and appreciate nature. It has raised funds and entered into a constructive partnership with the local Council to ensure that the Park is not only protected but improved. We have new planted trees, replaced broken or dead ones, helped monitor and protect the park’s varied wild life, and turned previous areas of waste ground in the park into magnificent nature reserves, like the Winter Garden.
So I know I am not alone in being appalled by the way both the Council and Mayor Boris Johnson have allowed themselves to be seduced into believing –of having us believe- that this weekend’s  Formula E-racing car event in Battersea Park will be good for the Park, good for London and good for the future of mankind.
I am told the event is a sell-out. I am also not alone in having been offered free tickets and turning them down.No doubt it will appeal to car racing fanatics and other who rarely if at all have ever used the Park and who simply see this as a fun weekend , much as they might go and see an air show, or a rock concert, or some military pageant or follow Top Gear on TV.
But it is regular park users- young parents, toddlers , joggers , dog walkers, old age pensioners, and all looking for peace and quiet from the stress of urban life, in harmony with nature — who have had their lives already disrupted over the last two weeks-a particularly special season for walking, playing, meditating and appreciating nature’s development. Two weeks ago large swathes of the park were sectioned off prior to an invasion by an army of contractors that was required to install safety fencing and other temporary buildings needed to meet –irony of ironies- health and safety standards. Lorries, heavy-lifting machinery, concrete blocks, scaffolding, security gates , have turned the Park into something it was never created for-a grand prix track- or something pretending to be one, no doubt with accompanying loud music, and token celebrities on the day.

Lets not kid ourselves any longer. The evidence is there. For sheer scale and encroachment over time, never in its history has Battersea Park been subjected to such a plundering.
In addition to the extended build-up, which has excluded the public from their normal uses of the park, both before, during and after this ticketed event one of London’s most popular public parks will be closed to those who use it on a daily basis for a further five days. In its wisdom Wandsworth Council steam rolled through local objections giving the event its blessing on the grounds that it needs the undisclosed money being paid it by the organisers while refusing to tell the public how much ,if any of this money will be spent in protecting and improving our appreciation of nature and our ticket-free leisure in the park itself. Judging by the holes already appearing in the tarmac and the damaged grass, the repairs alone post-event should require a fair sum.
But the point is that we should never have allowed this to happen, not she it ever hapen again.  The future of the Park lies not in invasions of this kind but in responsible co-stewardship and a recognition of the intangible benefits the park provides in terms  of health and social cohesion.

I cannot but agree with Evening Standard’s Andrew Neather who in the newspaper on June 19th described this as “just the most egregious example of a growing trend: the pimping out of London’s parks to raise cash.” As was pointed out in an admiral able letter to the Council by the Friends’ chairman Frances Radcliff , during the committee stages leading up to approval of the event the Council showed extraordinary lack of detail associated with the project. The Committee paper refers to the first race ‘having been successfully held in Beijing” without mentioning the spectacular crash between the two leading cars or defining the criteria for measuring success. No attempt is made to the considerable cost in staff time to the Council in terms of dealing with this proposal, the ‘income arising from the scheme’ is unquantified, and there is no mention of money being ring-fenced to benefit Battersea Park. Other information we should demand is whether other parks and open spaces were approached by the organisers and if so why was the project turned down before it came to Battersea?
And what about the environmental impact? Much to the chagrin of their private managment , the Park’s much loved Children’s Zoo has been forced to close for a week under advice by an independent veterinary inspector that it should take precautions to safe guard the welfare of its animals throughout the peak period of disruption. Are similar precautions being taken to safeguard the birds and other animals that roam freely in this park? We need to know.
And while we are on the issue of the planet we inhabit, the argument that Formula E racing is making a contribution to a better future-by raising awareness of less polluting forms of transport is spurious. There are enough hybrid cars and electric cars circulating on the streets of London for people to have made their mind up long ago about whether or not they should invest in one of them, or opt for a noisy petrol guzzling 4X4 . In fact many Londoners cycle to work through the Park every day, or just use public transport. I can hardly see them using a racing car to get around town, however ‘e’ packaged. God forbid.
The fact is that the  unique beauty of Battersea Park as a priceless green space will be irrevocably destroyed if this hugely disruptive event is allowed to go on annually over the next five years. Pope Francis would for one I believe disagree profoundly with those arguing it is a good thing- and see this event for what it is- part of an essentially destructive mind-set that elevates the pursuit of profit above every other consideration. His encyclical published last week should inspire users of Battersea Park to defend the wonders of nature, not to abuse them. Let’s hope that Wandsworth Council is called to its senses by the local outrage that this event has been provoking and invokes a contract break clause that cancells the next four years of Formula-E hell on earth. This event must never be repeated in Battersea Park .
• Jimmy Burns is a journalist and author. His book on Pope Francis: Pope of Good Promise is published in September.
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