Parking charges plan at Oaken Grove

Following on from your recent article about the council planning to introduce parking charges at a number of recreation parks across the borough, I just wanted to highlight the effect this will have on Oaken

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Grove Park in Maidenhead.

The recreation park is very popular with local residents for its children’s playground, the tennis courts, the Nicholas Winton garden and the café.

Football teams and exercise classes also use the park.

The car park is used by parents collecting their children from the local junior and infant school.

Many of these people will try to avoid using the car park and park in the entrance way or on local roads.

The end of school time is already a huge problem and these proposals will only exacerbate an already chaotic situation.

The newly refurbished café in the park will suffer, so will Maidenhead Town Bowls Club whose home is in the park.

I am a member of that club and to be honest we are deeply concerned that this proposal could drastically affect us.

The bowls club provides a superb environment for members to meet and socialise.

Bowls, to our members, is not only about playing a sport, the social side is very important as well.

A fair number of our members are of pensionable age, some have sadly lost their partners and the bowls club is a really brilliant, cost effective, lifeline.

Many come to the club on a daily basis, some just to socialise, most will be there 45 times per week.

Our concerns include:

W The method of collection via a mobile app, not all of our members own a smar tphone.

W The additional hassle in trying to access the car park due to traffic and parking outside it.

W The worry of exceeding the slot that you have paid for.

W The additional cost, as we stay at the club for 5-6 hours at a time.

W The increased danger to children, pedestrians and drivers due to the chaos likely to ensue at peak times.

As a club we have tried very hard to increase our membership.

Each year we recruit to replace any members that we have lost and to grow to our optimum level.

Clearly, cost and convenience are key issues in the decision to join a bowls club and so this proposal will just make an already difficult task even harder, which means that the members that we do have get less enjoyment from their hobby and have to bear more of the overall cost individually. I very much hope that with the weight of support from the online petition that the council will reconsider.

TIM EALES Maidenhead Town Bowls Club member