Help a London Park: Spring Gardens

Dear colleagues

You will recall that Spring Gardens has been short-listed for the 'Help a London Park' scheme (details below).

Please help to get the message to as many people as possible and encourage everyone to vote.

Best wishes

Derek


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 be 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 short-listed 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.