Genuinely fear for the future of our park
HANDS off our park! and developed to ensure this is
I was saddened and dismayed to continued into the future and a read of the move to ‘take over band of over 200 active volunteers Bradgate Park’ by county council have been recruited to help look leader Nick Rushton and Leicester after the park and woodland, providing Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby. limitless opportunities for
I have been volunteering with fulfilling community involvement. the Bradgate Park Trust for over Over the past few years Peter has four years, during which I have also managed to fill the ever witnessed the remarkable transformation increasing black hole in the park’s brought about by Peter finances caused by continued cuts Tyldesley and his team and I now to funding by the councils, by genuinely fear for the future of the diversification such as expanding park, which is seemingly now run the sales of produce from the estate by a cabal of councillors who claim including venison, firewood, charcoal, to know better. etc and expanding the many
During this time I have seen well supported public events held enlightened and motivational in the park. leadership and the formation of a New funding has been attracted professional, enthusiastic, and forward from a wide range of organisations looking team of staff and volunteers and donors to improve facilities, who all work towards a such as the new visitor centre and common aim of providing the best memorial wood, and to improve visitor experiences at the park, access to and stewardship of the whilst caring for its precious environment estate. and defending it against The accusations that, during his abuse. time at the trust, the management
Educational activities for both has in some way been ‘not fit for young and old have been expanded purpose’ (that hackneyed and WRITE TO: Letters, Loughborough Echo,
Ark Business Centre, Office 7,
Gordon Road, Loughborough, LE11 1JP.
EMAIL andy.rush@reachplc.com impossible-to-defend phrase) couldn’t be further from the truth and these accusations are simply a smokescreen for what looks like a good old fashioned power grab.
The fact that the council is now able to dictate what happens to the park, despite it being a charity, originates from the time the trust was established in 1928, when the councils funded the entire running costs of the park.
Nowadays that support has been slashed to such an extent that it contributes just one per cent of the costs, but the council expects still to run the show!
This must be changed and independent trustees recruited who will properly represent those who have the best interests of the park uppermost, rather than unelected appointees who seem only interested in their own agendas.
The claims that the park is somehow ‘not acting in the best interests of the people of Leicester and Leicestershire’ is risible.
The park is precious to so many of the inhabitants of the county (as well as visitors) that it is always under threat from overuse and this sometimes leads to issues with parking in the nearby villages and roads.
However this is rarely due to the shortage of spaces in the extensive car parks, but down to a small minority of selfish and inconsiderate car owners who will go to any lengths to avoid paying their share of the running costs of the park. Indeed, one only has to look at the ill-advised imposition of car parking changes and commercialisation of the Outwoods, where a charge of just £1 (currently!) has already lead to a disfiguring and hazardous ribbon of parked cars along the road to see evidence of this. Graham Fisher, resident of Leicestershire (and volunteer)