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Heath road protesters at Parliament Hill over the weekend |
This road will keep our Heath moving in the right direction
It may have provoked opposition, but plans for a new vehicle access route across Hampstead Heath are essential for it to remain safe and accessible, writes Bob Hall
HAMPSTEAD Heath is as popular as ever, with over seven million visitors each year.
This intensity of use inevitably means that the City of London Corporation, which owns and manages the Heath at no cost to any taxpayer, has a major duty to seek to ensure that the Heath is as safe as possible for its users.
How we do this is no whim: the City is obliged to consult the statutorily established Hampstead Heath Consultative Committee on matters relating to the Heath. Local, regional and special interest groups are represented on the committee. Issues put forward are subject to a very vigorous and well-informed discussion and the outcome is in turn reported to the City’s Hampstead Heath Management Committee which then reaches decisions taking carefully into account the advice given by the consultative committee.
People love the Heath dearly and many decisions raise strong feelings; in the end, after proper consultation, we have to take responsibility for a decision. The fact that the Heath has grown in popularity during our stewardship speaks for itself.
The proposition for a new segregated access track on the Heath was, of course, subject to such consultation. Were it the case that the purpose of the track was only to enable staff to get to “new offices” (New Journal, January 29) it is unlikely plans would have progressed past the consultation stage. However, the motives behind the new track have been wholly misrepresented in press articles, leaflets and other forms of media.
The truth is that the plan is to make Hampstead Heath a much safer place by taking service vehicles away from the pedestrian paths they must now use and put most of them on a discreet route along a very short part of the edge of the Heath.
Furthermore, the proposal will reduce vehicle use on other more extensively used pedestrian tracks on the Heath.
The suggestion that the track is being laid down purely so staff can drive up to the front door of their new offices is simply wrong – staff parking places will in fact be cut down to two and staff will be required to park near the Lido and walk to their workplace.
In 2003 there was a fatality on the Heath, caused by a contractor vehicle colliding with a pedestrian, and the changes which have been proposed are precisely to cut the risk of such an accident happening again.
The City Corporation is proposing extending an existing boundary track and making it vehicles-only. Anyone who takes a dispassionate look at the map will see that the plan makes sense. Indeed, it has been supported by many local amenity and conservation groups represented on the consultative committee including both the Heath and Hampstead and Highgate societies, following wide consultation.
These groups are satisfied the proposal will make the Heath safer as well as fulfil the corporation’s statutory duty to “preserve it in its natural state”.
Of course, it would be better to have no vehicles on the Heath at all, but that is not realistic. In order to keep the Heath maintained, some service vehicle access is essential: the rubbish has to be carted away, the toilets cleaned, the trees and grass maintained and post delivered. All these functions are necessary to ensure the Heath continues to be enjoyed by people of all ages using it for a wide variety of purposes, such as walkers, runners, swimmers, cyclists, bird-watchers, dog-walkers, tennis players and bowls enthusiasts, all of whom require services which need maintaining.
It is important to be clear that the Heath only appears to be such a natural place because it is managed to keep it looking and feeling that way. In fact it takes 132 staff and significant funds to care for this intensively used national treasure.
Managing the Heath means more than letting it evolve naturally. If the ever more-visited Hampstead Heath is to remain a great place to visit, there have to be some changes to help it cope with the pressures of the urban citizenry that surround it. The proposed change is a modest and carefully planned one that will enhance the Heath for users.
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