| Home | Haringey Friends of Parks Forum the network for all the borough's local Friends groups for parks, nature sites, recreation grounds, community gardens and other green open spaces... |
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| No To Cuts In Haringey's Parks! | ||
As Council consults over compulsory staff
redundancies, park lovers launch protest petition against staff and
budget cuts
Following a special Friends Groups meeting last week the Friends of Parks Forum noted that the Council is currently consulting all staff over further compulsory redundancies. In response the Forum have called for the cuts to our green spaces to be reversed if they are not to be plunged into a serious decline in maintenance and management. Already in the last few weeks many groups have reported understaffing and maintenance problems, including a growing failure to provide adequate staff to clear litter. And this is before the Council's threat of making further redundancies is carried out. Some local staff depots are also facing closure, or being leased out to Veolia for their street cleaning teams. Parks staff, along with most Council workers, are currently being consulted on the Council's plans for compulsory redundancies - the Council decision is likely to be made on May 19th. Meanwhile members of the main Union, UNISON, have had a vote in all Council departments and are considering whether to take industrial action or not. As a contribution to the consultation exercise the Friends Forum have now produced a protest petition for all Friends Groups (see text below), including a message of support to parks' staff. We believe now is the time to let the Council know what the public think! Park users are already beginning to take action - including an action group formed in Bruce Castle Park who've done their own petition to defend their staff and staff depot, a litter collection/photo press release in Markfield Park to embarrass the Council into action, something similar in Fairland Park, and loads of complaints about Chestnuts Park and Ducketts Common. " We are appealing to the Council to use the current consultation exercise with staff to re-consider their position, and to reverse the destructive cuts to parks staffing and budgets. " |
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