Thanks yet again must go to Mr Mustard who passed on the response to a Freedom of Information Request he received this morning. Knowing that I had blogged previously about the Council considering using Oakhill Park for a bin lorry depot when the main Mill Hill depot is sold off he thought I should see the response.
Frankly I am utterly shocked and no longer know who to believe. Cllr Evangeli reassured me that the bin lorry depot in Oakhill Park will not go ahead. Cllr Rams tweated that it would not be going ahead because he had stopped it. So what was the response from the Council this morning.
As per the published Council budget, a total of £12.1m is currently allocated for the re-provision of depot services. From this £12.1m a maximum of £2.4m has been earmarked for the redevelopment of the Copthall & Oakhill Parks & Cleansing Area Operations sites.
So the question is who is telling the truth, a council officer in a Freedom of Information Request response sent today or the assurances of two local councillors back in December.
Every single resident in New Barnet, East Barnet and Brunswick Park should be concerned about this. It's all very well getting a verbal denial that something is happening but when you see that millions in cash have been allocated for the redevelopment of our local park as a 'Cleansing Area Operations Site' you should start to get very worried.
What is the truth here?
If they still expect to win over Pinkham Way, for their dustcart and recycling-lorry depot, they still need somewhere for the grit mountain, the snow-ploughs, and the mechanical workshop.
ReplyDeleteThe land at Mill Hill is going to have to pull its weight in order to cover these costs of £12million. Is it all worth the bother?
ReplyDeleteDo Saracens know that Copthall is earmarked as a Cleansing Area Operations Site?
ReplyDeleteThere is something very wrong here: and one suspects that yet another financial cock up will have to be carried by the long suffering tax payers. Councillors are very keen on verbal reassurances at times of public outrage, aren't they? I like your spelling of tweat by Rams: a combination of tweet, bleat and teat?
ReplyDeleteThe council has already cut down trees in Oak Hill Park and has tagged more around the existing depot that are to come down. When mentioned that the expansion had been stopped to a council worker they just laughed and said the area had already been measured and that they had started work by taking some of the garden of Park Lodge and erecting a new boundary fence. He said that all street cleansing would be based there including skips, and that it would be running seven days a week. I live in East Walk and Councellor Tambourides said that we would all be consulted about this. I am still waiting.
ReplyDeleteMrs Dotty, this is very disturbing. I will go down to the park tomorrow morning and take some photos. Cllr Evangeli repeatedly re-assured me this was not going to happen as did Cllr Rams on Twitter. If Cllrs have misled the public then that is a very serious matter and they will not be allowed to get away with it. Thanks for making people aware.
ReplyDeleteHi Mrs Dotty, I was down at the park this morning but I couldn't see any of the tagged trees. I did speak to someone there who also said that the plan was still going ahead. As you say it looked like some trees ahd been cut down. I will pursue this further and keep you posted.
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