The Friends of Broomfield Park have written to Enfield councillors to express serious concerns about the impact of budget cuts on the management and upkeep of parks in the borough and on Broomfield Park in particular - "one of the jewels in the borough's crown".
The letter from the Friends, sent ahead of last week's full meeting of the Council, listed some of the impacts which the proposed cuts would have: reductions in grass cutting in parks, use of volunteers to pick up litter after events and other occasions when parks are busier than usual, and - a particular concern to the Friends - the abolition of two of the three Public Realm Improvement Officer posts.
The Friends describe in some detail the various, in their view vital, types of work carried out by the public realm improvement officers allocated to Broomfield Park. They finish by asking the Council to reconsider the proposed removal of this post. (See below for the full text of the letter.)
In a reply to the Friends, Cllr Daniel Anderson explains the effect of cuts in government funding on Enfield Council, quoting various figures, and arguing that Enfield is not being treated equitably compared with some other local authorities. He outlines swingeing cuts to other services and points out that some 600 jobs are expected to be cut across the Council. While giving some assurances about some points raised by the Friends, he gives no ground on the question of the two posts. He points to further cuts to parks unless they can generate more revenue: "It is essential that we pursue income generation opportunities, which can best be achieved via a steady stream of larger-scale events in our key parks, in particular, Trent Park. The alternative is even further reductions in operational staff on litter and horticulture, the removal of play equipment and the further reduction of maintenance budgets."
The full text of Cllr Anderson's letter is at the end of this article.
Letter from the Friends of Broomfield Park to Enfield Councillors, dated 23 February 2016
Dear Councillors,
Over the past years, we have appreciated the support that you have given to the Friends. We recognise that you are extremely busy and haven't always been available to attend our meetings but know that you are keen to foster good relations and have supported many of our initiatives.
We are writing to you at a time when most local authorities, including Enfield, are experiencing serious constraints on their budgets and we understand this. Making cutbacks of any kind is always contentious and it is impossible to do this and at the same time placate all the different sectors within the Council.
However, our main focus is the impact that the proposed cuts will have on our beautiful park. As you are aware, Broomfield Park is one of the jewels in the Borough's crown and we do not wish it to be tarnished.
At the recent Overview and Scrutiny committee meeting, which was observed by members of our committee, we were alarmed to hear that a proposed saving of £2.71m from Regeneration and Environment would have a significant impact on the support that parks in general, and Broomfield in particular, would receive in the future.
We accept that reducing grass cutting frequency (£50k saving) may not have too significant an impact. However we object strongly to the proposed changing volunteer role into litter pickers at key points in the park calendar e.g. after Bank Holidays, sunny weekends .....(estimated saving of £40k).
But more importantly than both of these points, we object most strongly to the proposed scrapping of two of the three Public Realm Improvement Officer posts. We understand that this may not happen until 2017 but that it is likely and plans are under way to delete 3 PRIO posts and replace them with one new post, most probably office based and with a wider brief than before. It's difficult to see how a primarily office-based post-holder can have sufficient understanding of issues and projects in the parks, and maintain regular direct contact with Friends and volunteers, all of which is vital to managing and improving our parks.
James Downing and Graham Deal have worked tirelessly to support the work of the Friends of Broomfield Park. Graham in particular has given support to us in numerous ways, many we suspect over and above his job description.
He has been hugely helpful in establishing the orchard, apiary, wildflower meadows and in planning for the proposed pond. He's very involved practically, and has given a great deal of his own time to many of our projects.
In recent months Graham has supported the work of the Friends in the Remembrance Garden by
- drawing up schedules of works and obtaining estimates from different contractors for the Remembrance Garden
- overseeing the tendering process for selecting a qualified conservation architect
- attending meetings in the Garden with the War Memorial Trust (WMT) and the Friends
- working closely with Friends writing detailed application forms for grant awarding bodies such as the WMT
- helping with the design and layout for visitor information board.
More generally, Graham has been involved in carrying out annual surveys of visitors to the park and has set up a stall with the Friends where visitors could ask any questions about Broomfield park. He has devoted a lot of time to inspecting the park with the Friends and completing forms to obtain Green Flag status. (The proposal to pull out of Green Flag work as a consequence of cutting the PRIO posts would be a seriously retrograde step given the efforts being made to reverse the decline and improve Broomfield for submission this year).
Graham always attends our Friends Open meetings held in the evenings, which is a time when Associate Cabinet members may not be available. Most importantly, he is the first person to contact over any problems in the park, such as gates being locked, minor vandalism, graffiti etc, and deals very promptly with such concerns.
The intention appears to be that Associate Cabinet members will take on some of this work and that they will work directly with Friends of the Parks. We wonder if they
- are aware of the large number of parks and open spaces in each of the 3 areas and
- have the expertise to deal with any park matters including those relating to water features and buildings within the parks
- have the time and commitment to liaise promptly and effectively with the Friends
We look forward to hearing from you and to receiving your assurances that you will support the work of the Friends by re-considering the proposed deletion of the PRIO posts. We cannot believe that the Council wishes to jeopardise the partnership with the Friends that has been encouraged over many years.
Yours sincerely,
Susan Cook
Secretary, Friends of Broomfield Park
Reponse from Cllr Daniel Anderson, dated 28 February 2016
Local Government Funding
Over a ten-year period up to 2019/20, Enfield's budget will have been cut by at least £168m, and it is likely to be more, given the Chancellor's indication that further spending cuts are on the way. Bear in mind that the funding reductions themselves fail to take into account both an ageing and a rising population growing at over 4,000 per annum.
Many would also be surprised that council tax makes up a fraction of our spending, a mere 8% or thereabouts. Around 88% of our funding comes from central government, which means that any reduction in central government funding will have a significant impact on our capacity to deliver services. The raising of council tax by 1.98% - together with 2% solely towards funding adult social care - which we have agreed, will therefore raise a fraction of that we are losing in central government funding.
Furthermore, because of a funding formula that fails to take into account the size of the population and levels of deprivation, Enfield receives £496.10 per person compared to Westminster that receives a staggering £917.59.
Cuts
This being the case, our administration is faced with making significant cuts to services across the board including adult social care, i.e. those with disabilities (both physical and learning), older people, and those with mental health; and children's services affecting transport for disabled children and youth services. There are also cuts to public health. Indeed cuts in these services for 2016/17 alone equate to over £10m. The Environmental Department - which itself covers a wide range of services that include trading standards; planning and development control including licensing; cemeteries & allotments; highways, traffic & transportation; waste & recycling; sports pitches; and, of course, parks & open spaces - is making cuts of £2.3m - not £2.71m - in 2016/17, of which £74k is the reduction of two of the Public Realm Improvement Officers (PRIOs). Indeed, across the Council, we are looking at over 600 posts going, which means that hundreds of staff are losing their jobs.
See photo attached, which outlines the full scale of the cuts we are facing. I also draw your attention to the agenda and attachments of the recent Overview & Scrutiny Committee Budget Meeting, which mapped out the extent, in detail, of the financial situation we are facing.
Parks
Therefore, as I told the Friends Consortium back in October, by necessity, we have to work smarter with less and that cuts to all services including parks, which are not a statutory service, are sadly, inevitable. To that end, it is equally inevitable that the relationship and level of direct support between the Council and the friends will need to change, though the objectives remain the same.
Specifically addressing your concerns, with regards to litter, first and foremost, it is the public's responsibility not to drop litter. However, even accounting for the fact that they do, there is absolutely no expectation or intention that friends will be expected to litter pick.
With regards to the reduction of the two PRIO roles, the reality is we simply cannot continue to offer the amount of intensive liaison support to the level that you have come to expect and it is, therefore, sadly inevitable that the nature of our engagement with the friends on a consultative level will have to change. Nonetheless, operational support will continue and parks staff will still be very much deployed delivering the practical support that is required.
Moving forward, the three Associate Cabinet Members (ACMs), who are fully aware of the number of parks and open spaces in the borough, will work with you in a more strategic capacity. Indeed, we met with them last week to discuss their role and Bambos will be in contact in the near future to arrange the first tranche of formal meetings. You, of course, continue to have the opportunity of raising issues with ward councillors as necessary and appropriate.
With regards to the remaining PRIO that will remain it is envisaged that the role will focus on funding bids to support the parks and open spaces strategy, as well as supporting volunteering in the parks by working with operational services and volunteers to maximise efforts.
Looking forward, in seeking to sustain the standards in the parks and open spaces it is essential that we pursue income generation opportunities, which can best be achieved via a steady stream of larger-scale events in our key parks, in particular, Trent Park. The alternative is even further reductions in operational staff on litter and horticulture, the removal of play equipment and the further reduction of maintenance budgets.
I appreciate that this is obviously not exactly what you'd like to hear, but hope that you now understand why these reductions are taking place.
It remains our intention to seek to achieve the same outcomes albeit with a lesser, more strategically deployed approach, which will, of course, be kept under review.
Kind regards,
Daniel
Cllr Daniel Anderson
Cabinet Member for Environment
