Stop this graffiti

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Permalink Reply by Rosamund Tomlins on April 30, 2022 at 10:08

I think it's mainly to do with ergonomics, that sometimes street planners & landscapers simply cannot foresee, although that's what's expected of them, as it all depends on many intertwining factors.

Most of us like to go for a walk in the park, & parents must find a balance when working, whether from home or not with their children around after school, at weekends, & in the holidays. It's understandable for a flat dwelling family to want to use the grounds right outside their windows, where there's an element or at least semblance of supervision, but where those windows can be vulnerable to damage, & where cars driving in & out can be a risk. Some flats blocks have communal land to the rear, but they are sometimes places where drunks etc can congregate.

It's far better to use a large park environment where kids can really run around & let off stream without having to be particularly careful of where their ball goes, but then the adults feels they must always go with them for supervision, as if anything happens it's always the poor parents who are blamed, but then there isn't always enough time to do this adequately. 

My feeling is that not enough affordable houses with adequate gardens are being built, & the housing market has resulted in existing houses being way too expensive to buy, but also not enough suitable outside space is being considered when blocks of flats are built. The recent change of use of Zenith House from factory to domestic dwellings along Lawrence Rd has absolutely no outside garden space. The newly built Vabel Lawrence has a central courtyard & only disabled parking but no actual play space for the flat dwellers' children.  I don't know how large the 5 or 6 houses' gardens are. They have to cross busy Lawrence Rd to get to the little Elizabeth Park, or whatever it's called, where often drunks & drug uses sit, however one of the nearby drug dens has recently been evicted of its drug pushers so maybe things will improve there. 

There was a little playground with equipment between Wakefield & Rangemoor Rds but I don't think it's been replaced since breaking after years of use. The ball court might be used more at times I'm not going past there, and it did get renovated a few years ago, but the whole area is between 2 roads, where many commercial vehicles rumble down to the industrial bits, so there's an instant barrier to its regular use, and most of the immediately nearby properties have gardens of some sort. I can't help thinking at some point more flats will get built on that land. Stamford Rd mini park appears underused & when the hedges are allowed to grow too high they simply afford a secluded haven for antisocial behaviour to hide behind, but although it's lovely to have it there, it's not on a through route, & it's off the beaten track, however more flats are being built just beyond there so maybe it'll get used more soon. 

I don't think these particular large parks I know are necessarily successes for this subject, just that they are used, & provide opportunity simply because they comprise large open grassland areas, and they have different routes in and out, so they aren't just a destination; they are a destination on the way to another destination. Their presence doesn't take away from the need to have more close by places where flat dwellers without gardens can allow their children to play & socially interact safely. There used to be a drainage problem with Markfield Park (& perhaps some part of Lordship Rec) but I have some memory of it being sorted out, somehow. The north east corner I still feel is badly landscaped, so you feel you're going round in circles & don't get to where you think you are heading, although the area has been improved somewhat, partly with the community garden.

Back to the original subject, graffiti does reign there because the walls afford the opportunity. When one appears it can be considered quite arty but then the slogans & messy less creative rival art appears to cover it with chaos & spoils it all again - it can appear quite intimidating, all these huge busy squirls of paint surrounding you as you walk along.  

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