Good news?

Good news. All of my links to the proposals to sell off our parklands in Old Bar on this site are now  a 404 Error - Page not found.

Britain's parks - cash, privatisation and justice.

Three articles from Britain recently.

Re-imagining Park Life: How Britain's green spaces are scrambling for cash.

The crisis in Britain's parks is a social justice issue.

Cherish our public spaces -  among the glories of the democratic age.

We care about care

Caring for our parks - Badgers Park Old Bar

General maintenance and care for our public shared assets are often overlooked and taken for granted. Just like the cleaning that goes on everyday in any household - unseen but making life better for everyone.
I was lucky this morning to catch the Greater Taree Council staff (I think) with the mower in our park. They keep the grass beautiful and it is a nice piece of open ground. Thank you to the staff who do this and probably receive no recognition and appreciation for what they do. This allows us to use it more readily and there is a patch of purple weed type flowers that spring into life again after it is mowed.
Sadly, I suspect that it is the lovely open mowed look that has developers questioning its 'use' when it could be sold so readily for profit. The park looks so fantastic in its mix of unkept bush and mown grass. We are so lucky to have these small suburban green band parks in our neighbourhood. This is a legacy of town planning given to us by previous Council's based on the idea of what constitutes a good planning for development, but now under threat. In saying this I also acknowledge that the entire lands belonged to the Biripi nation not so long ago and was taken from them. They also were seen not to use it in a valid way so didn't have any ownership in new laws. What is the answer? What type of use or value to citizens is valid to keep our green spaces now?
See the latest news on the threat to our parks.
Look at completing the online submission again as the questions seem to have changed. See here.

Parks are used in many ways...not only with balls

Colours of the park

A local community book club came to a Saori workshop in the studio on Saturday. One of the new weavers created a textile which reminded me of the richness of open space and how we are so influenced by our environment.
According to many sources open parkland and parkland with facilities contribute to land values in an area, especially if it is an unvandalised and peaceful park environment like Badgers parks and indeed all the "pocket parks" of Old Bar that are proposed for disposal to private sale.

Our Open space in Badgers Park

Old Bar is a walking place and proximity is important. We tend to take advantage of close parks rather than getting in cars to travel to another with more structured facilities.

Badgers Park walk leads to Badgers Beach

Page 46 of the Draft Open Space Improvement Plan maps the proposed improvements which will be paid for by the permanent sale of our parks. Although these improvements to other parks are relevant they are not any that I would value in any way until they can be funded by other means.  If they can't be done without selling off our parklands they will have to wait until better times.
The biggest outlays of these proposed improvements  are connected with organised sports in the active sports field (1.2 million). When sports are being played on these fields it isn't appropriate to walk through or picnic on the grounds and sometimes temporary fencing is erected and residents have to pay for entry. These sports groups monopolise these grounds and we generally accept this, but not if all our other parks are sold down to only this type of use.

Saving Badgers Park

It's interesting to read about parks and their value to a community. Badgers Park, Old Bar isn't a city hub full of runners and readers. It is a very natural respite from the built landscape, frequented by Kangaroos and other wildlife. It's a free corridor to our magnificent beach and holds no signs of neglect or vandalism. This in itself if a sign of how residents with the help of our council value it.

The following is quoted from Understanding the Contribution Parks and Green Spaces can make to Improving People's lives.

"While well managed parks and green spaces can encourage visitors, and enhance social inclusion and cohesion, poor quality spaces, scarred by the evidence of vandalism and neglect, dominated by single groups and anti-social behaviour, can be a blight on any community. It is a measure of peoples‘ commitment to green spaces and belief in their importance that there are so many examples of communities working together to transform their local space."

And then this -  “Perhaps more significantly, the acts of improving, renewing or even saving a park can build extraordinary levels of social capital in a neighbourhood” This is our invitation.

Saving a park is an opportunity for this generation to reassert it's value and work to build new ways of community and commitment with what Council is trying to provide.  Old Bar already has many community groups who work well within their focus. But our natural environment which has been handed to us as generational heritage, such as the parks, have only us to defend it as it can't defend itself.

Our beautiful Old Bar Parks

Our beautiful and much enjoyed, long standing street parks are currently under threat of sale by Greater Taree Ctiy Council.
This sale process will close off the land and it will never be available for community use again. Most of these parks are held in older subdivisions where the land is highly sought after. Originally, the land was allocated by the developer in accordance to rules on what constituted a good mix of open space and housing by Greater Taree City Council at the time. Since this time two and three dwellings are now allowed on individual blocks thus increasing the general density of housing. These parks are now even more important to the life quality and benefit of the residents than before.
I support the retaining of all parklands in Greater Taree City Council. Here I am focusing on Badgers Park, Old Bar as this is the one I use every day and my children and now grandchildren use. It has a special place in our life in Old Bar.

Read the draft of the Open Space Improvement Plan offered by the Council for community feedback. It is easy to offer feedback and have a say here or give the Council a call/letter.
This isn't the first time that this plan has been offered to residents. But the irony in parkland discussions is that most of us aren't activists and don't know how to 'fight' or present our protest. For my part I can only call upon a #quietactivism which is rather like the 'passive' social and healthful benefit I get from the open park land.
Part of the issue is the inability of our council to continue to maintain the space. It is expensive to mow the grass and they may need community maintenance groups to do this until better times. The most important thing is to keep the land, even in a reverted bush state until things get better. It is irreplaceable.
On the upside, looking at our parks and their enormous social and health value to our community is encouraging. We take for granted their enormous value because we never thought it possible that they could be taken away. Old Bar is a very unique place. It has great un-touched natural beauty, clean waterways and a mix of people from all walks of life and social situations living in the same place.

Food for thought

Understanding the contribution that Parks and Green spaces can make to improving peoples lives.

Making the invisible visible: The real value of park assets.