Mayor Boris Johnson calls on Londoners to vote to 'Help a London Park'

Press Release

Mayor Boris Johnson calls on Londoners to vote to 'Help a London Park'
25-11-2008 618

The Mayor of London is today (Tuesday 25th November) launching a scheme to makeover ten of London’s parks and Londoners are being given the chance to vote to decide which ones will get a £400,000 cash boost.

The Mayor made a commitment that efficiency savings from the previous administration’s publicity budget would be spent on improving the capital’s green areas. 47 of London’s parks, with at least one in every borough, have been selected as candidates for a cash boost to make them safer and more enjoyable. The £6 million funding will transform ten of these parks across London over the next four years through grants of up to £400,000 each. The Mayor is calling on Londoners to vote to make sure their chosen park is one of the winners. As part of this the Mayor will also award a single grant of up to £2 million to one large park for a makeover. This grant will decided by the Mayor rather than by public vote, with advice of a panel of experts.

The Mayor will formally launch the ‘Help a London Park’ programme at a major speech at the Environment Agency’s annual conference at which he will outline his priorities for the capital’s environment including the importance of protecting ‘green spaces’.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson said: ‘I urge Londoners to use their vote so the most deserving parks in the capital benefit from these ten hefty prizes. This investment will make the capital’s open spaces cleaner, safer, greener and more enjoyable places for Londoners to use. Parks provide a free place for families to enjoy time out and often simple improvements such as better play areas and improved lighting can make a real difference in making parks much more attractive and safer for people to use.’

The winning parks will be improved in a variety of ways, ranging from better footpaths and more lighting for safety, to providing new playgrounds and facilities for children. Others will open new cafes, refurbish derelict public toilets and improve cycle routes. Many will see traditional flower gardens restored, new wildlife habitats created, and plots provided for communities to grow fruit and vegetables.

Londoners can vote to choose which parks get the £400,000 simply by logging on to www.london.gov.uk/parksvote , by text message or by postal vote. Voting closes on Friday 30th January 2009.

London boroughs have nominated almost 100 green spaces in their areas that are in need of extra care and 47 have now been shortlisted by a panel of experts and are now open for Londoners to vote on. To make voting easier and to ensure the money is used on parks across London, the parks have been divided into five London sub-regions (North West, North, North East, South East and South West) with around ten parks per sub-region to vote on. The winners will be the two parks in each of the five London sub-regions, which get the most votes.

Notes to Editors

PHOTOS OF THE MAYOR LAUNCHING ‘HELP A LONDON PARK’ WILL BE AVAILABLE ON REQUEST FROM: environmentdesk@london.gov.uk

There are three ways in which votes can be registered:
Online – go to www.london.gov.uk/parksvote
Post – You can request a postal vote form by calling City Hall’s Public Liaison Unit on 020 7983 4100.
Text – Text 'parks' and your full London post code to 62967. This will automatically vote for the nearest park on our shortlist to that post code in the same borough.

If you want to vote for a different park you need to text a full post code close to that park.
Voting will be open to all Londoners to participate in and they can only vote for one park in one London sub-region. This can be a park in their local area or one across town, there are no restrictions as to what gets their vote.
Organisations on the expert panel advising the Mayor on which park should receive the £2million grant are the Greater London Authority, London Development Agency, Groundwork London, CABEspace, Natural England, London Parks & Green Spaces Forum.
Once the improvements have been made to the winning parks, these will be maintained by the borough as part of the funding agreement.
The Mayor made a commitment that efficiency savings from the previous administration’s publicity budget would be spent on improving the capital’s green areas. Transport for London, Greater London Authority and London Development Agency is contributing to the parks programme through these efficiency savings.
The following parks are up for the public vote:
North West sub region: Brent River Park (Brent), Southall Manor House Grounds ( Ealing), Brent River Park ( Ealing), South Park (Hm'sth & Fulham) Hammersmith Park (Hm'sth & Fulham) Byron Recreation Ground (Harrow), Pinkwell Park (Hillingdon), Redlees Park (Hounslow) Little Wormwood Scrubs Park (Kensington & Chelsea)
South West sub region: Norbury Park with Thornton Heath (Croydon), Wandle Park (Croydon) King Edwards Park (Kingston) Kennington Park (Lambeth), Spring Gardens (Lambeth) Ravensbury Park (Merton), Crane Valley Park (Richmond/ Hounslow), Wandle valley with St Helier open spaces (Sutton), King Georges Park ( Wandsworth), Latchmere Recreation Ground ( Wandsworth)
North sub region: Coram's Fields ( Camden), Lincolns Inn Fields ( Camden), Dollis Valley Green Walk ( Barnet), Arnos Park ( Enfield), Broadley Street Gardens ( Westminster), Shoreditch Park ( Hackney), Barnard Park ( Islington), Elthorne Park ( Islington), Lordship Recreation Ground ( Haringey), Bunhill Fields ( City of London),
South East sub region: Penge Parks ( Bromley), Avery Hill Park ( Greenwich), Maryon Park ( Greenwich), Parish Wood Park ( Bexley), Dickens Square ( Southwark), Camberwell Green ( Southwark), Deptford Park ( Lewisham), Mayow Park ( Lewisham)
North East sub region: Abbey Green ( Barking and Dagenham), Mayesbrook Park ( Barking and Dagenham), Harrow Lodge Park ( Havering), Central Park (Havering), Greenway (Newham), Fairlop Waters Country Park ( Redbridge), Goodmayes Park ( Redbridge), Bethnal Green (Tower Hamlets), Victoria Park (Tower Hamlets), Marsh Lane (Waltham Forest)

For media enquiries please call Nicola Dillon or Hilary Merrett in the Mayor’s Press Office on 020 7983 4066/4755. Numbers not for publication.

For out of hours media enquiries please call 020 7983 4000.
For non-media enquiries please call the Public Liaison Unit on 020 7983 4100.