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Holly Williams, 7, with relieved members of the Say No To The Road group |
Heath funding? It won’t be you!
Campaigners celebrate as bid to fund new road through National Lottery cash is rejected
CONTROVERSIAL plans to build a new road on Hampstead Heath may be abandoned after National Lottery chiefs refused to help fund the scheme.
Campaigners were cautiously celebrating this week as the proposals hung in the balance.
The Heritage Lottery Fund rejected a request from Heath managers the City of London for £2.6million to pay for a series of changes including the construction of a new road from Gordon House Road to a staff yard at Parliament Hill.
It was declined because the plans were considered “limited value for money”.
The decision was yesterday (Wednesday) described as “disappointing” by Bob Hall, chairman of the City of London’s Heath Management Committee.
He said the road (the first on the Heath) was still the best solution to their plans to improve access around Parliament Hill and said those who felt “you shouldn’t sacrifice a single blade of grass” on the Heath had missed the point.
“While I sympathise with the view they’re expressing, it’s not realistic and we have to accept that,” said Mr Hall. “I ask those who oppose the road to understand this space has to be managed. In an ideal world we wish we didn’t have any vehicles on the Heath, but that’s unrealistic. You can’t manage it without any vehicles and it can’t be wheelbarrows.”
Mr Hall said his committee were now looking at other sources of funding.
The cash had also been requested to help shore up the foundations of the Lido and rebuild the changing room and pavilion.
Money from the bid was to also be set aside to improve the running track and to landscape Parliament Hill’s Highgate Road entrance.
Head of Heritage Lottery Fund London Sue Bowers said: “While we recognised that Hampstead Heath is a much-loved park, the limited value for money offered by this project made it a lower priority for our funding, and we were therefore unable to
support it.”
But even without help from Lottery funds, the road could still go ahead.
Say No To The Road campaigner Rosalind Bayley, of Parliament Hill Mansions, said she was “relieved” at the Lottery decision, but cautious about the future and feared having the same fight again.
She also urged the Heath’s bosses to listen to the 10,000 people who have joined the campaign against the road, including globetrotting comedian Michael Palin and filmmaker Ken Loach.
Ms Bayley said: “We are very relieved that the City of London will have to rethink its plans for the proposed vehicle-only road on Hampstead Heath.
“Ten thousand people have said no to the road by signing our petition. The corporation can’t continue to justify its proposal to build the road on the strength of the 132 people who responded to the 2008 consultation.
“And questions must be asked about the effectiveness of the Heath Consultative Committee as official guardian of the Heath.
“The committee was still endorsing the road proposal without question as late as March, despite overwhelming evidence that Heath users in their thousands were vehemently opposed.” |
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