Clissold Park concerns

IT is great news that Clissold Mansion is to be restored and opened up for public use and the landscape around improved to show it off properly.

There are a lot of other things that come under the ‘restoration’ works and maybe not all of them will be as welcome.

Clissold Park is a lovely, green, tranquil and relaxing place and provides wonderful opportunities for play and sports – but think of the impact of a skate and wheels park in the corner of the Park behind the Town Hall, just next to the tennis courts.

The old Redgra will be used for a long overdue extension to the playground and will be landscaped to provide quiet sitting and picnic areas, but also a caged multi-use sports area and a big wheels park along the Queen Elizabeth Walk side.

The noise will be the first thing to hit you as you come to the park from Stoke Newington Church Street, and tennis players are going to love it!

It is also the most residential corner of the park, under the windows of the Lordship South Estate flats and next to houses in Queen Elizabeth’s Walk.

The Redgra is a big ugly empty space and it is great to have it re-modelled to be more attractive, but we are going also to lose the freedom and flexibility afforded by its all-weather unstructured and protected nature – tai chi, cricket, football, boules, rounders, kite flying, remote control toy cars and planes, just meeting up to kick a ball around on a wet afternoon after school … no room for all that anymore.

If I were a cynical person, I might think that the skate and wheels track has been included in these plans so that a box somewhere can be ticked.

If, like me, you have concerns, I suggest you write to Deputy Mayor Karen Alcock (Karen.Alcock@hackney.gov.uk) and the Cabinet Member for Community Services, Cllr Nargis Khan (Nargis.Khan@hackney.gov.uk).

Maybe it wouldn’t be too late to reconsider the best way to use the space so that everyone can enjoy it.

Penny Crick
Stoke Newington