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Search forTime to take back control of our city park from thugs
Wednesday, August 27, 2008, 09:30
This was one racist attack by stupid, uneducated, Pakistani youths.
They are children with no future and I feel sorry for them. I have lived among the Pakistani people of the area for more than 20 years and, almost without exception, I have found them to be friendly, good-humoured and respectful. It must be emphasised that this attack group is a small minority.
But Steve Medlock, parks manager, cannot wriggle out of his share of responsibility by saying that it is the fault of the area and not the park. Many of the incidents have occurred when no ranger was on duty, even though they occurred at a time when there should have been a ranger on the park.
When I spoke to him on the phone, he said that staff shortages were the problem. But a solution to the problem is his responsibility and he should not have allowed the situation to develop. Before the revamp, the park had only one part-time ranger who was excellent but unfortunately the council saw fit to sack him. After the revamp there was a manager, assistant manager, two gardeners and a staff of rangers.
Recently it has often been the case that only the gardeners have been at work. Even when the park was fully staffed there were plenty of staff about during the day but only one ranger or none at all in the evenings – when the park was busiest and problems were most likely. This is bad management.
Since the revamp, management of the park has been poor and standards low. This was partly because the person appointed as manager had no experience of parks or management.
But she was responsible to more senior people like Steve Medlock, who must share the blame. If an Evening Telegraph reporter had been more observant, he or she might have seen that the wildlife pond is overgrown with reeds. The flower gardens are in poor shape although much improved recently – they were a disgrace. The cafe has been closed for two years and not enough has been done to get it reopened.
The fountain has been off for years and is, at present, fenced off, which is very unsightly. There is no good reason for this and I believe there is nothing to prevent it being switched on.
At the last Friends of the Arboretum meeting, the manager admitted that some of the CCTV cameras had not been working for some time. She said she could not get them mended for contractual reasons, which I find difficult to credit.
I am also puzzled that the Civic Trust judges have said that the park has strong community input when the Friends of the Arboretum group is just about moribund. Perhaps they just accepted the manager's spiel.
So it can be seen that all is not well at the Arboretum and it is difficult to see how any award can be justified. But the main problem at present is this gang of nasty out-of-control youths.
It might even affect race relations in Normanton and the rest of the city. Might I suggest the following?
Have two rangers on in the evening, even if this means having no-one on in the morning. One can patrol while the other monitors CCTV.
Police and park rangers should make more use of CCTV. It should be possible to identify miscreants with a view to obtaining Asbos, even when the evidence is not sufficient to obtain a conviction.
The Pakistani community could bring their naughty children under control. If matters continue as they are, someone is likely to be seriously hurt and the criminals responsible may have to serve lengthy prison sentences.
Improve the CCTV.
Oh and by the way, what became of the plan to have a police office in the park building? As I recall, this was part of the submission to obtain lottery funding. It would clearly be extremely helpful. If this and other commitments such as staff levels are not honoured, will the grant have to be repaid? If so, heads should roll!
Chris Jordan, Madeley Street, Derby.
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