Protesters demand return of ‘precious’ London Fields paddling pool

Hackney’s London Fields is widely known for its lido but a smaller children’s pool has long been popular with local families in need of a free playing space. First opened in 1978, the paddling pool was shut to the public in 2020 due to the need for major works, but despite previous commitments it was never reopened.

A petition to bring the site back into public use, spearheaded by the London Fields User Group, was launched in March and gathered over 900 signatures.

One of the key campaigners, Cecilia Parr, said residents were being deprived of access to a “precious” resource for children that also eased strain on parents.

On Monday (20 July) campaigners staged a demo outside Hackney Town Hall, ahead of the petition being formally heard by the council cabinet.

‘A public health intervention’

“When you have a child under five, it’s a crucial age. All sorts of child development is grounded in discovery and play, freedom and imagination, but for parents there just aren’t enough hours in the day,” she told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

Together with consultant psychiatrist Kate Highton, Ms Parr argued that restoring the pool would act as a “public health intervention” to close the gap between the vast majority of local residents who lived in flats with no access to a private garden, and the minority who did.

Ms Highton warned of a severe and costly crisis in children’s mental health, which she argued was best tackled by preserving shared spaces for family and community.

She told the cabinet: “Spaces like the paddling pool are some of the precious places where people from diverse communities come together, who are not served by the [London Fields] lido. If Haringey can run three paddling pools, why can’t we have one?”

Ms Parr, 41, told the LDRS she was one of the lucky few to have a garden for her children to play in, particularly during increasingly common heatwaves, and this further highlighted her sense of the social disparity.

“My youngest is five, and it just enrages me every time I walk past this paddling pool. My kids are too old to use it now, but I couldn’t let [this issue] go,” she said.

Broken promises

Hackney Council previously committed to restoring the paddling pool at London Fields.

In February 2020, shortly before lockdown restrictions were imposed, the Labour-run council closed the site for major works, announcing plans to eventually integrate it with a new training pool. But progress stalled and the revamp never materialised.

‘It was free’

At the demo, residents Colin and Caroline Sears shared their fond memories of the paddling pool used by their children, now fully grown.

They said: “We used to go there after school, take a picnic – and it was free. And although the lido is fantastic, it’s quite expensive if you’ve got a family.”

Dyna Samuel, a local childminder, said the missing paddling pool had deprived the area of a community space.

“We used to go and meet friends and family, and we’d bond there. It was my son’s freedom space where he could go, splash in the water and relax. Coming from a low-income family, I couldn’t afford anything else at the time,” she said.

Ms Samuel added that the nearest outdoor space during hot weather was a long walk compared to London Fields “just around the corner”.

Council pledges to act

After the petitioners made their case, Hackney’s cabinet member for climate, clean air, energy and transport, Cllr Jacob Cable (Green party) promised to unlock the space “immediately” and establish a working group to create a financially sustainable plan to reopen the pool.

Cllr Cable also committed to meeting with campaigners to discuss the “bare minimum” of how to make the space accessible in the short term ahead of restoring the entire facility.

The campaign comes less than a month after the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, published the new Heat Ready London plan to adapt the capital to “increasingly frequent and severe heatwaves”.

The heat resilience plan has five key goals, including expanding safe access to blue spaces, such as swimming and other recreation based around London’s waterways, that provide opportunities for residents to cool down.