Agenda item

The Superintendent of West Ham Park to be heard.

Staff

The Superintendent noted that the preferred candidate from the October interviews for the West Ham Park Manager post has decided not to accept the role. The role has been re-advertised and the recruitment package has also been circulated to the London Parks Benchmarking Group, The London Parks & Greenspaces Forum and other contacts within the industry. In the interim, a manager from North London Open Spaces continues to assist with the management of the park for 1-2 days per week. He added that the new City Bridge Trust (CBT)-funded West Ham Park apprentice has been awarded Highly Commended in the Young Gardener of the Year category of the Sunday Telegraph’s ‘Gardening against the odds’ programme.

Works update

He reported that spring bedding had now been planted in the park and the final 1,700m² of CBT-funded wildflower meadow was sown at the beginning of October. The meadow was sown by 5 classes from 2 different primary schools, totalling approximately 150 children.

The park remained closed on 28 October as a result of the St Jude’s day storm. Damage was relatively light, with only two trees having to be removed (London Plane and Maple).The only damage to property within the park was to some fencing around the tennis courts. Outside the park, a branch fell onto a car parked on Ham Park Road and was being progressed through the insurance section. Staff spent approximately 3 days clearing up debris.

The Nursery had now completed the dispatch of spring bedding and staff had reverted to asset maintenance duties, as well as securing quotes for the supply of seed and plugs for summer bedding next year. The Superintendent noted that he was meeting with The Royal Parks on the 27 November to discuss future bedding provision. He added that the nursery team had provided floral decorations for both the South Korean banquet and the Lord Mayor’s banquet at Guildhall in November, from which positive feedback was received.

Events

The Superintendent reported that the final Gardening club for 2013 took place at the end of October and that it would next reconvene in early spring to help prepare beds for the next growing season. 

He added that The Friends of West Ham Park held their annual ‘Build the Biggest Leaf Pile in Newham’ Event on 2 November.  Overall 9 of the Friends gave a total of 32 hours of volunteering on the event, and approximately 80 people attended.  The event had some online coverage in local media. The Friends of West Ham Park are currently organising the annual ‘Park in the Dark’ event, which will take place on 6 December.

He noted that in conjunction with the Newham Education Business Partnership, several education sessions had been held in the Park for children between the ages of 3 and 7, with the aim of inspiring youngsters from an early age.

He concluded by saying that the Tessa Sanderson Foundation & Academy (TSFA) 10k run was scheduled to take place on 6 April 2014. Organisation and preparation for the event would be carried out with TSFA’s new business partner.

Asset maintenance

The Superintendent reported that the railings surrounding the ornamental garden had been painted as part of the City Surveyors’ planned maintenance works. Other works due imminently include repairs to the tarmac path running from the main gate to the office and, within the nursery, maintenance of the barn building and glazing repairs to the glasshouses.

In response to a question from the Chairman on whether the Park had seen any growth in anti-social behaviour (ASB), the Superintendent replied that whilst the Park had not seen many dog-related incidents to date, there was the issue of drug dealing within a section of the Park. Staff were dealing with the problem by proactively removing bin bags in the area in question (given these were used to conceal stashes), keeping a high profile and liaising with local police.

In response to a query from a member, the Superintendent committed to ensuring both the West Ham Park newsletter and the City Gardens newsletter were circulated to members of the Committee. Furthermore he agreed to investigate whether it would be useful to provide a quarterly written update on activity in the Park.