‘Utmost care’ taken by Windsor On Ice
Concern raised over dismantling of benches
Windsor On Ice has responded after a Royal Borough councillor raised concerns over the dismantling of memorial benches in Alexandra Gardens.
Cllr Alison Carpenter’s (TBFI, Clewer and Dedworth East) comments came after she revealed that she had visited Alexandra Gardens and noticed Windsor On Ice, which was in the park until Monday, had ‘dismantled a lot of the memorial benches and they were just thrown on the floor’.
Her concerns came during a discussion at a meeting of the Windsor & Ascot Development Management Committee at York House on Thursday, January 4 where councillors were making a decision on whether to approve the installation of an observation wheel and a refreshment kiosk at the park (see p7).
Cllr Carpenter told the meeting: “I visited the park yesterday. I noticed that the ice rink had dismantled a lot of the memorial benches and they were just thrown on the floor. I mean it was pretty terrible actually.
“So I think if this does get approved, I would like to get some sort of reassurance that they’re going respect the current state of the park and not dismantle memorial benches.
“These are, from people who have died and people who have put benches in and they’ve just been sort of thrown around the floor and I think it’s shocking actually. I mean this shouldn’t really impact those. Hopefully they’ll be put back and they’ll remain.”
Jo Richards, team leader in development management at the Royal Borough said: “There’ll be [a] condition on the Alexandra ice rink temporary application that they will need to restore the land in the right way.
“If they’ve dismantled something or carried out something that’s not in accordance with their permission, they may be in breach of a condition but there will be conditions on those permissions that they are bound by.
“Likewise, we have conditions set out that this applicant will need to adhere to, and I think they’ve put in a construction plan and a dismantling plan as part of the application, so they would be bound by those details.”
Simon Loveday from
Windsor On Ice, said: “It is sad that people think that we just remove the benches and dump them on the ground without any thought.
“The utmost care is taken when removing the memorial benches and we always ensure they are put back in place when the event finishes.
“We understand the value of open spaces available to the public and always do our best in protecting Alexandra Gardens whilst constructing, operating and dismantling the event.
“We always pay, without question, along with ground rent, a restoration fee for the
gardens. The cost last year for this restoration was £42,240.
“We do our utmost to restore the gardens to exactly how we found them when we arrived.
“The observation wheel planning application, I believe, was approved.
“Whilst this has nothing to do with Windsor On Ice, I do believe it will make a welcome addition for the public and to the gardens throughout the summer months and I am sure they will also leave the gardens exactly how they found them.”