When the area we now know of as the London Borough of Merton was created, those entrusted with its formation showed great foresight by retaining portions of old country parks and creating green space wherever possible; this enlightened process left future residents with an extraordinary legacy. We were gifted beautiful vistas, mature trees, meadows and river walks. We were also bequeathed clean streets. Now, nearly 100 years since areas like Morden were created, and Merton spread over the green fields of this part of Surrey, our parks are under threat from developments and also at risk of being placed in the hands of a company looking for the short-term acquirement of profit rather than focussing on the essential goal of long-term management and preservation. One of Merton’s richest assets is being denuded and treated with the utmost disrespect and it would have made the creators of the London Borough of Merton weep!

We cannot let this happen without a fight.

Although our parks cost money they are a vital asset, a place of rest, recuperation, exercise and family time for Merton’s residents and it is our responsibility to pass this extraordinary richness to the generations that follow us, to enjoy as we and our ancestors have done. Whilst building on Ravensbury Park and Dundonald Rec may be cost-effective to our Merton Council leaders in the short-term, in the long-term the cost is exponential as precious green space is lost to the whole community forever. When it comes to our parks we risk everything if we treat them in such a casual and cavalier fashion.

In addition, successive councils have failed to truly tackle the extent of litter on our streets and as the years pass we are rapidly returning to the days of 2010 when we were voted the dirtiest borough and were known colloquially as ‘Mucky Merton’. While the council plans to pass our parks into the hands of a ‘for-profit’ company our street cleaning service will suffer the same fate and our already stretched services will suffer further as the new overseer seeks to minimise spend and maximise profit from an essential public service.

But the effect of this will stretch further. There will be a devastating knock-on effect of passing two crucial areas in Merton’s care to a private concern, one which clearly hasn’t been considered. It is this: the council will basically destroy in one single act the massive voluntary sector that cares for parks and who regularly picks up the uncollected litter. While we volunteers can all readily support a public body with our actions, we simply will not be able to do the work of a company cutting corners to protect its bottom line. The borough’s parks will suffer further without the vital – and often unsung – work of Merton’s many volunteers and our roads and paths will suffer ever further from the behaviour of the uncaring and the feckless.

The council – our guardians – must not ‘pass the buck’ but tackle the issue of street cleanliness and the care of our vital green spaces once and for all. It must face these responsibilities full-on and with it become a standard bearer for street cleanliness and park preservation in London. I have every faith it can achieve this goal. If it cannot do this alone then it must bring in those that can help it fulfil its mandate for us and future generations, but not pass this responsibility to a company looking for profit. Any organisation charged with caring for our rich resources should be focussed not on money but the sustaining of our community and our environment for the present and for the future. It is a particular madness to pass the care of our parks and green spaces to the South London Waste Partnership, a company that has absolutely no experience in caring for parks.

Our council cabinet voted to do this on November 10th without consultation with residents.

Whilst Merton Matters has no political affiliation we do support the petition started by Councillor David Dean to protect our parks from being taken over by the South London Waste Partnership and we would urge all Merton residents who treasure our beautiful green spaces to take a moment to sign it. You can find the petition here: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-merton-s-parks.

The future of our green spaces hangs in the balance and we need to act fast. Please join the fight.

Merton Matters

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