Mary Reid

The meeting on 'Looking After our Green Spaces' produced some good discussions.

The managers from Quadron explained their long term plans to develop community use of the parks as well as keep the planting in order. Criticisms of poor performance by some of the employees (driving over wet grass, pitching litter into the trucks etc) were responded to with apologies and a commitment to stop the practices.  Quadron said they would welcome feedback like that, so they can deal with problems - the easiest route is to contact the Council's Environmental Services.

I learnt a great deal during the discussion about the Green Spaces Strategy, which will guide Quadron's work in the future.  It is a particularly important document for South of the Borough, given its semi-rural location.  

Barbara Webb gave us her expert opinion on nature conservation, and said that it was not given the attention it deserved in the document, which was generally agreed. Nick Owen from the Lower Mole Project - a joint effort supported by six boroughs including Kingston - said that the contribution made by volunteers should be mentioned. We talked about footpaths and rights of way, and about bio-diversity in our gardens as well as in nature reserves. The Council ecologists were busy recording lots of ideas and are hoping to incorporate them into the final version.