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Fighting for Town Green status for our lovely park
• TALACRE Gardens (Big green questions, November 27) has been a way of life for me and my family since the early 1970s.
In my retirement years it has become a haven. Long hours are spent by the quiet sitting area enjoying the landscape and visiting with friends and family members.
I particularly enjoy the new mosaic bench near the children’s playground created by local kids and artists.
I saw it being built from just a pile of bricks into a new feature for the park. There isn’t a day when I fail to visit Talacre Gardens. The thought of any harm to this park by developers upsets me.
I, too, had great difficulties getting through the Town Green questionnaire, but I had to persevere. For the sake of this community and the next generations in my family, I feel strongly that I must fight for a Town Green for this park.
ELLEN KEANE
Athlone Street, NW5
A solution
• AFTER months of Camden Council subterfuge, it was an eye-opener to participate in the focus group run by the Office for Public Management regarding the future status of Talacre Gardens.
Our small band of park users ranged from a 1960s militant, who enlightened us with talk of the original plans by Camden Council to link the lands behind the railway at Primrose Hill, NW3 to Prince of Wales Road, NW5, (how different would the landscape of Haverstock be had this plan been implemented), to the grandmother who wished to preserve the park for the posterity of her offspring and theirs .
We were unanimous in our decision. “Give us a Town Green.”
It is the only logical and practical solution for the future of Talacre Gardens.We were also unanimous in our condemnation of Camden Council. We felt it is not to be trusted (sadly) and if the outcome of the consultation is against the will of the local community one wonders what can possibly happen to heal disaffection with “our” council.
The seven-storey proposed building with two entrances-exits: one for the social housing renters and the other gated-off for the private leaseholders, and the establishment of a truck route across Talacre Gardens will cause irreversible additional division in the heart of Haverstock; something we and future generations can live without,
YASMIN ALLEN
Malden RoadNW5
Odd actions
• IT is beyond belief that Talacre locals are struggling still to get their park protected by a Town Green registration.
Even odder is the way Camden is handling the Friends of Talacre Gardens’ application for the Town Green. First, the executive dismissed their application. Then, they decided to have a consultation to find out whether the locals want it or not. Isn’t it the case that a consultation should precede a decision?
Now we learn the consultation questionnaire gives dubious advice, apparently designed, to secure a “right” answer – rejection.
Residents of Haverstock and their friends are made of sterner stuff.
STEPHEN RUSSELL
Savernake Road, NW3
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