Agenda item

Report of the Director of Open Spaces.

Members considered a report of the Director of Open Spaces regarding the Open Spaces & Heritage Business Plan 2017/18 and the following points were made.

·         The Superintendent noted that Members had seen previous iterations of the Business Plan at their January and March meetings.

·         In response to a question, the Superintendent noted that the Business Plan was linked to the Heath Management Plan by Key Actions outlined within the report.

·         In response to a question, the Superintendent noted that the Open Spaces Bill was relevant to the Heath given it would have an impact on the City’s ability to lease property, licence events and commercial activities and enable the issuing of  Fixed Penalty Notices.

·         In response to a question, the Superintendent noted that the objective to develop volunteering across all City of London Open Spaces reflected the desire to broaden engagement with the general public and potential volunteers.

·         In response to a question, the Superintendent noted that the delivery of education across the Open Spaces had been centralised and that a bid to secure funding over the long term would be considered by the City’s Policy and Resources Committee shortly.

·         In response to a question, the Superintendent noted that it was a longer term objective for greater synergies between the Heath and Keats House to be realised. The City’s Open Spaces Department had only recently in February 2017 taken over responsibility for this aspect of the City’s heritage portfolio and therefore it had not been possible to identify the full scope of potential synergies in this iteration of the Business Plan.

·         A Member commented in relation to Keats House that John Keats had met Samuel Taylor Coleridge on Merton Lane, and that this could be factored into any heritage walks on the Heath in future.

·         A Member commented that any heritage materials drawn up following the Open Spaces & Heritage merger could provide background to why the Heath had been ‘saved’ by the Hampstead Heath Act 1871 and the history behind the various structures on the Heath.