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| Marsh Lane devastated |
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 (Photo Matthew Waterfall 14/Dec/2012) Dear Cllr Robbins and Loakes I wanted to write to thank you for the part you and the council has played in the redevelopment of Marsh Lane Fields in Leyton. Your visionary plans have really enhanced the space for all in the community. I travel through the park everyday on my way to and from work and so have watched the works being undertaken with much interest over the past few months. Of particular interest is the splendid job the authority has made of a large expanse of green space on the Orient Way side of the park which after being churned up by tractors a couple of months back has been re-seeded with grass. The only problem with this is that the works are, I understand, well behind schedule and so the this large area of previously grassed area now lies bare with large puddles of mud and ... no grass at all! This is unfortunate as rather than improving the area it would appear that the council and its contractors forgot that grass will not germinate in the freezing cold and so presumably this area will remain 'out of bounds' for the rest of the winter, greatly reducing (by around a quarter) the useable area of this well utilised local park and of course limiting severely all the sporting activities the community used to enjoy on this part of the park. I imagine that the grass seed sown, just after the first frost of the year, has been wasted resulting in more of our money being spent on the renovations. I have attached a picture which hopefully demonstrates the wonderful job the council has done which I know does not do the work justice. Another 'improvement' of note is the laying of wild flower turf which is helpfully replaced in large sections every couple of days after the previous batch has been driven over by heavy plant vehicles. I can only assume that the plan to constantly re-turf the area is designed at keeping the park 'fresh' so again well done. It appears the council, having learnt how to expertly ravage an area of green space used by thousands of local people (albeit in partnership with the Olympic Delivery Authority), at Leyton Marsh is applying the techniques honed there at Marsh Lane. It really is great to see the authority recreating such successes borough wide. On another note I also want to thank the council for using public funds to spruce up private shop fronts in Leyton, this really does assist in the alleviation of deprivation in the area (certainly for the shop owners)and takes some of the focus away from other areas of poor performance such as the shocking state of the education department (sorry to hear the Safeguarding Department failed its last Ofsted inspection). I have no doubt that the owners of Pizza Hut for example are very pleased with the upgrades. Finally I am still waiting for a response to an enquiry sent to Cllr Loakes relating to the recent CPZ consultation in Leyton. Specifically about the consultation exercise which disenfranchised thousands of people. I recall Cllr Loakes made the statement in the local press which suggested he felt the consultation was an example of the 'purest form of democracy'. A bold statement I'm sure we will all agree but please I seek only an answer to my question: 'Why shouldI as a voter should have any faith in your ability to represent the interests of people in my area? (based on your apparent dismal understanding of the principles on which democracy is based).' This was first sent on 22nd October so sorry to be a pain but I think you may have also breached your own promises on responding to enquiries from the public. I look forward to your response Matthew Waterfall 25 Manor Road E10 (14/Dec/2012) |
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