Thornton Heath parks are set to pilot a  new way of working which will see local people taking more responsibility for the future of our green spaces.

The Thornton Heath Parks action team met last month and was attended by cabinet member for parks  Cllr Timothy Godfrey, along with representatives from all three parks Grangewood, Thornton Heath Rec and Trumble Gardens.

It was agreed that  an Action Board would be established which will  meet quarterly and bring together community leaders; councillors, contractors and council staff to:

– Positively hold our parks to account

– Co-ordinate activities across the parks. Identify local funding and resources to improve our parks.            

– At the next meeting in June Friends groups will communicate areas of work they are interested to undertake which will be explored against current contract requirements. This will be used to develop a joint work programme and explore what could in time be devolved to local level.

Cllr Jamie Audley is leading the project which brings together the council and Friends groups and is part of  a vision for parks discussed by THCAT.The initiative is being treated as a pilot by Cllr Godfrey and  could be rolled out across the rest of the borough if successful.

A huge amount has already been achieved and a lot more was discussed at the meeting. There have been several quick wins one of which saw thee frontage of Trumble Gardens planted up with five  beautiful Liquid Amber trees.