The monetisation of public green spaces

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Permalink Reply by Finsbury Park Ranger on February 19, 2016 at 10:02

Public spaces always were monetised, we all paid a pretty penny often for barren and unloved spaces to remain so. I appreciate these things can go too far and there should always be good room for free fun but I like to see new innovative things happen occasionally on public land. I like to see that we are trying to protect public spaces by making them pay an income rather than selling them off in bits. I also like to see the new ideas and new possibilities they can create.

The only issue I think is that there should be more open transparent competition to allow more people to consider how they can reinvent a space and keep our council tax low, sometimes it just feels like a closed deal. Why for example should ' so and so's Fair' always have a run of the park every year. Where is the open tendering process that allows any citizen the chances to push the envelope and do something different on our shared land ? Where are these opportunities advertised ? Who makes the decisions who gets the gig ? That's the bit that's broken if you ask me.

Personally I always used to look at swathes of public land in the eighties with nothing but dogs shitting on them and used to think why doesn't someone ever do anything fun here ?

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Permalink Reply by Finsbury Park Ranger on February 19, 2016 at 10:34

Someone should do a thesis on the communisation of private dog shitting.

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Permalink Reply by Dave Morris on February 19, 2016 at 11:36

This is what happens if we allow the Government to slash funding to everyone's public services. It hits 'non-statutory' but essential services like parks very badly.

With the richest and greediest 1000 UK families having a combined 'wealth' of over £550 billion (up by over £200 billion since the so-called 'financial crisis' - the 'crisis' gave the Government the excuse to attack our welfare state.

Across the UK Friends Groups continue to demand adequate funding and statutory protection and standards for green spaces..

Dave

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