Now sign petition to save our parks
Go online and tell MPs how you feel to secure a debate in the Commons
THE Mail on Sunday today launches a petition as part of our crusade to save the nation’s parks.
We urge readers to go online and sign the petition – and if we secure 100,000 signatures, the issue will be debated in the Commons. Senior Ministers will be forced to answer tough questions about the plight of our treasured open spaces, many of which are being sold off by cashstrapped councils or being allowed to fall into a state of disrepair.
More than 1,000 readers and celebrities are already backing the Save Our Parks campaign – and last week the matter was raised in the Commons by former Cabinet Office Minister John Hayes. He warned MPs: ‘ Parks and green spaces are being lost, eaten up by greedy developers and unprotected by careless councils.’
Mr Hayes, a former aide to David Cameron, also demanded an initial debate at Westminster Hall, during which MPs sit in a semi-circle in a room in the oldest part of the Palace of Westminster and challenge a Minister for a response to the issue raised. That debate is likely to be held in the coming weeks – but the MoS also wants to increase pressure on politicians to meet our demands by forcing a further session in the main Commons chamber.
In an eloquent speech to the Commons on Thursday, Mr Hayes quoted poet John Keats as he held up a copy of the MoS. ‘Keats said, “A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness,”’ the MP said, in reference to the role parks play in communities.
He added: ‘Future generations deserve their taste, their touch of earthly paradise, not to be confronted with concrete jungles where once trees grew and birds sang.’
Last night, Mr Hayes said: ‘Save Our Parks is a brilliant campaign and I want to do everything I can to support it.’ His intervention came as readers continued to inundate this newspaper with letters of sup- port, and more MPs and celebrities backed our call for new laws to safeguard parks.
Tory MP and green campaigner Zac Goldsmith said: ‘Parks are vital oases. It would be an irreversible tragedy if we lose more and they clearly need the further protection asked for by this campaign.’
TV presenter and explorer Ben Fogle, who met his wife Marina in Hyde Park, London, said: ‘Urban parks in particular give us a form of escape and solitude. They are good for the mind, body and soul.
‘They are a place to reconnect with nature and to escape the stresses of modern life. I have walked thousands of miles through London’s parks over the years: walking the dogs, teaching the children to ride bikes and to collect conkers. I trained for expeditions there. If it weren’t for our parks I would never have met my wife.
‘But all is not green and rosy. Councils are selling off parks and even National Parks are under pressure from new town developments.’
Musician Rick Wake man described parks as essential and said their loss was the latest blow to communities following the closure of shops, pubs and post offices.
‘Parks create a sense of belonging. They bring people together. It’s where people meet, walk, talk and make new friends. It’s not rocket science to understand this.’
BBC Countryfile presenter Steve Brown added: ‘ These spaces let kids feel like kings.’