- Patcham Councillors call for better boundary protection to stop unauthorised encampments at popular park
- Patcham Place Recreation Ground currently has an incomplete boundary, leading to recurring problems
- Budget amendment will be put to the City Budget meeting on Thursday for new defences to be installed.
The Conservatives will push for better boundary protection for Patcham Place Recreation Ground to protect against unauthorised encampments, with an amendment for a £20,000 investment in new bollard defences set to be put forward at Thursday’s budget meeting.
The large public park, which is located next to Patcham Roundabout, has been a hotspot for unauthorised traveller encampments for years, with the recurring incursions causing considerable concern for residents and community sports groups that use the facility and also costing the council time and resources in enforcement and clean-up operations.
Patcham Place Recreation Ground currently has an incomplete boundary, with gaps between different types of bollards making it easy to access for vehicles to cross the boundary and access the turf.
Patcham & Hollingbury Councillor Carol Theobald said that the boundary should be completed to ensure that no more illegal encampments occur in the future.
“The current boundary is noticeably incomplete and very unsightly in places and has led to unauthorised encampments year after year” Cllr Theobald said.
“This is not only unlawful, but is also unfair on the community groups that use the space as their public park and on the taxpayer that has to pay to clean up the sites after the Travellers move on.
“The problem could be easily resolved with a small expenditure on completing the perimeter boundary and I hope that this measure will be agreed to on Thursday” Cllr Theobald added.
Patcham & Hollingbury Councillor Alistair McNair said that the site should not be being used by travellers, given that the Council had an authorised site less than a mile away at St Michael’s Way.
“Patcham Place Recreation Ground should not be being used as an encampment site, particularly given the Council operates an official Traveller’s site at St Michael’s Way, Horsdean, which is less than a mile away” Cllr McNair said.
“Nevertheless, it continues to be targeted year after year, much to the distress of local residents.
“The Council must act to end this continued cycle of unauthorised encampments; and completing the boundary will be a cost-effective strategy that would be welcomed by the local community” Cllr McNair added.
Patcham & Hollingbury Councillor Anne Meadows who lives near the park said that the police and Local Authority had been very quick to deal with illegal camps, and that this funding would save them time, human resources and money.
“Patcham councillors have excellent relations with local police and the Council’s traveller unit, and we know the effort they put in to help the local community.” Cllr Meadows added.
“It will also save the large clean-up operation required afterwards, and would put local residents’ minds at ease knowing illegal camping could not happen again.”
Conservative Finance Spokesperson Joe Miller said that he would be introducing an amendment targeted at directing more funding at local parks.
“Since the pandemic, residents have been using and relying on their local parks more and more and as a Council we need to recognise that and provide additional resources” Cllr Miller said.
“By deferring spending on expensive carbon visions, we can make a real difference to our communities here and now, by upgrading our local parks” he said.
Conservative Group Amendment 2
- Provide £0.110m capital resources funded through £0.009m financing costs to provide: -
- £0.020m for better boundary protection for Patcham Place Park
- £0.020m for playground equipment in Horsdean Recreational Ground
- £0.020m for Skating facilities at Knoll Park
- £0.050m to provide a road crossing at Bexhill Road park
The above proposals require £0.100m recurrent revenue resources and this will be funded by replacing the £0.100m recurrent funding allocation for investment to support planning reforms shown in table 2 on page 20 with £0.100m one off resources only. The one off resources will be funded by deferring £1.250m capital investment of the proposed 2022/23 allocation to the Carbon Neutral 2030 fund until 2023/24 which releases £0.100m one off funding from the financing costs budget.
ENDS.
