Agenda item

Don’tthintherTo agree the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 25 November 2020.

RESOLVED, that the public minutes of the meeting held on 25 November 2020 were approved as a correct record.

Covid-19 update

The Superintendent provided an update relating to issues and matters concerning the Covid-19 pandemic. The Superintendent highlighted the importance of the Open Spaces following the announcement of the third national lockdown and Officers were anticipating another very busy weekend. Managing the heavily used public toilets and keeping them safe was a significant issue and Officers were working with DBE for extra staff to provide additional resilience.

Officers continued to work on and balance a programme of works and recovery programmes to be included in the AWP which would take several years to complete. It was also noted that following Committee approval of dog licensing scheme at the last meeting, Officers had a useful meeting with the recently set up Hampstead Dog Walking Association took place in December. The next step was an Expression of Interest to gather better data on dog walker numbers at the Heath. This information would assist the development of the detail of the scheme and the applications.

A Member was concerned regarding the Queen’s Park Toilet project which was not accounted for in the proposed budget and requested an update. The Superintendent confirmed that whilst the project received gateway 2 clearance from the Committee and Projects Sub Committee, this project was deferred twice by the Resource Allocations Sub Committee (RASC)then came off the list when projects were reprioritised. Subsequently, funds of £30k have been allocated in the CWP to cover maintenance works.

In response to a query regarding accessibility, it was not that there were two accessible toilets available, the issue was safeguarding concerning access from the Children’s Sandpit and Officers were looking at options. The Chair confirmed a full update on all capital projects that went to RASC would come to the next Committee meeting.