Minutes:
Friends of Wollaton Park Rob Kirkwood welcomed the use of the Wollaton Hall walled garden as part of the Arts Festival. The issue of the crumbling walls will be raised again at the Friends of Wollaton Park Steering Committee in a couple of weeks’ time and is a continuing frustration. As previously referred to in minutes, communication issues with Parks and Open Services officers are still yet to be fully resolved but need to be to enable the Friends of Wollaton Park to add value to the Park, particularly at a time when City Council resources are reducing.
The Chair commented that he is very much aware of the ongoing issues with the walled garden (which was last fully utilised in the 1980s) and appreciates the urgency and importance of preventing further deterioration. However even stabilising the walls is a huge piece of work which will cost hundreds of thousands of pounds. The City Council cannot afford to fund such work and the only obvious route for funding currently is from the National Lottery. It should be noted that Nottingham has recently received a substantial amount of lottery funding and any future applications will not only need to compete against potential schemes in other parts of the city, but also other areas of the region. However, funding options need to be considered now to prevent further deterioration. It is important to get all stakeholders together and whilst there are problems with securing a mutually agreeable date for Councillors and Parks and Open Spaces officers to meet with Friends of Wollaton Park, it is hoped that this will be resolved very soon.
Community representatives queried why the walls had been ignored for so long and were concerned that if the condition had been monitored and maintenance action taken, this would not be such a pressing issue. It was suggested that if information regarding park management and monitoring schedules had been shared with Friends of Wollaton Park, the issue would have been raised sooner and could have been addressed sooner at a far reduced cost.
The Chair responded that the priority now is find strategies to stabilise the walls and prevent further deterioration. Complete restoration will be a longer term aim if funding can be sourced.
Wollaton Vale Residents’ Association Anthony Swannell referred to an ongoing issue of parking on Wollaton Vale. The Chair responded that this had been investigated that there was no clear solution as some residents wanted to park on the grass verges and others wanted to keep vehicles off the grass verges. Parking is a particular dilemma for multi vehicle households. Councillor Webster added that the parking and traffic arrangements on Woodside Road are only temporary as part of a pilot which will be assessed. The project consists of one lane of traffic on one side and one lane of residents only parking. A cycle path will be included and no parking is allowed on the grass verges. This pilot has only been possible due to European and N2D2 funding of traffic regulation orders as changes to any scheme are complicated and very costly. Councillor Longford noted that there had also been an Enterprise Zone contribution to the scheme.
The assessment of the pilot scheme will be welcomed with interest.