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Horniman Gardens in South London, show
some of the ways in which public parks
can be revived. First, you remove them
from the day-to-day control of municipal
government. Find someone else to do the
job: a trust, a community group, a
school, a museum, a church, or whatever.
But make sure that body only has one
garden or park to care for.
Horniman Gardens are managed by a Public
Museum and Public Park Trust. It's a
quango - but it shows far more
sensitivity to users than what Alistair
Campbell would doubtless call 'a bog
standard London park'. The Horniman
Trust knows its users.
A second approach to reviving a park is
to make it part of the Chelsea Fringe.
Then invite individuals and groups to
organise events: story-telling, beer
bars, gin bars, theatrical events, plant
sales, planted cars, book sales,
concerts, folk dancing, folk singing, a
dog show - and poetry readings. The
Chelsea Fringe has great examples of
such events and they really bring people
into parks and gardens.
Volunteer programmes are another way of
involving the community. They work very
well in America. So why shouldn't they
work even better in London? We are a
Nation of Gardeners. London is the
world's Garden Capital. But the
management of our parks date from the
Great Reform Act of 1832 and it's time
for a change. So: let's convert public
parks into community parks!
And - there's one more thing. We should
put qualified landscape architects in
charge of our parks. THEY know how to
manage them. So let's get on with it.
We can have new parks for our new lives