Parish Council have closed the village park

[MinecraftMother]

I nearly put this in AIBU!

The park is a big green space with a small part being reserved for playground equipment. Old skool, leg breaker style stuff!

Anyway, that equipment isn't being used by the kids (that I've seen) from the village. Certainly not mine. But it isn't taped off, or anything.

Anyway, the PC have marked it, the whole park, as closed. There's a bike track with little hills at the bottom of the park, this is where my guys like to cycle. They sometimes see other kids, but not too often.

Apparently some people in the village are very cross about the kids - not just mine - being in the park.

So we're clear, the village is small and I know most of the other parents, some very well. The kids haven't been mixing. They are staying away from other households and keeping with their bothers and sisters. My guys haven't been in the park with other kids, but if they were, they know the drill.

They cycle up and down the close, then to the park and the little hills, then back again. No loitering etc.

For background, the kids have been told off for cycling outside someone's house not too long ago...as in, cycling past on the pavement as kids do (no one else around). They aren't friendly, the locals.

Can I take the PC to task about closing the entire park, as opposed to just the play equipment? Shall I?

And there is risk of traveller encampments with associated difficulties to evict.

It was never locked, just the sign.

I want to use the park but I don't want to cause a war...and this is the type of thing that will in my village! 😂

Yes, this pandemic has made me oddly grateful to live in a rough area
People are a bit more sane.

I'd just keep using it, they have no authority anyway.
They certainly aren't allowed to go against current law and gov guidelines.

I'm Scouse/Irish and yes, they're a different crowd around here.

Telling the kids not to cycle outside their house was the cherry on top, for me.

Just remembered, one day the kids went walking in the brook by ours. It's gorgeous, proper idyllic stuff. They were with their minder who is a gentle soul. The owner of a stunning black and white cottage said that they weren't allowed because the brook belonged to them. 🙄 x a million.

In that case, I went in fully loaded. Downloaded the title to their house, an older deeds showing that they did not in fact own the waterway. Fucking horrors. That was a fun conversation.

They're just so unfriendly around here. So so unfriendly. In one PC meeting about the possibility of a donated field being used for a community cafe and orchard, one chap who was born in the village in 1928 said that it was already "extremely rowdy" I laughed my head off in the audience. It's picturesque here. We are the youngest family here and we're not that rowdy 😆

So yeah, that gives you some idea of what we're dealing with!

"My husband removed the sign" I was with you until you said that. I was going to say do ask them to reconsider if you can show it's not necessary, but now I'm thinking feel free to buy a suitable piece of land and make your own rules about it.

I'd just keep using it, they have no authority anyway." who do you think owns the land?? Maybe I'll throw a party in your garden later if you don't believe in property ownership.

I put the sign back. The man's a fool, not me.

The village owns the land. It is held in trust. The PC maintain it, using funds from the villagers. I did say this earlier in the thread, I thought.

If the village own the land, couldn’t that be an argument for using it?

I have been looking to see if we have a parish council here ...looks like not. Or do they exist but have no online presence?

This lockdown is definitely an education.

The village own the land and you are a villager.
I can send some gypsies down if you like, let me know where it is.

Ooh, i could have some fun with this village.

Ooh Dev I think I know who you are, we’ve chatted about freedoms before this hysteria. Hello! 👋

Hello LilacTree

Yes, supposed to be touring Wales now, I'm in Wigan in a house with very itchy feet and no business.
It could be worse though, plenty of others losing their jobs.
Would love to be in the countryside making nettle and dandelion tea.

@Devlesko In this case, I'm the gypsy! 😆

It is village land, but I'm sure the constitution of the PC puts it in their control. A local family (who make a specific type of car) donated it - and the other field I was talking about upthread.

The problem usually is not that the PC are on a power trip, although that does happen sometimes with individuals. The problem is that most councillors are (white) men well over 65. So when thinking about things they don't tend to view things from the point of view of parents with young children. There probably is a good reason the park is closed, and some have been given above, but they may not have given due weight to the need for children to be out as they may not have considered it. So put forward the argument. Don't go in angry as you are very unlikely to achieve anything.

The PC are also unpaid volunteers, most are unelected unopposed - in most places you literally just have to be the one who fills in a form and bothers to turn up. Thats it. So quality varies massively and some people probably shouldn't be doing it but as with all volunteering there is a lack of people willing to do it.

I would say though, if you want to feel young, become a parish councillor. In a similar way that if you want to feel old, work with teenagers. I am usually the youngest in the room by 30 years.

What is the point of these parish councils?

What is the point of these parish councils?

www.localgov.co.uk/Parish-council-responsibilities/29135

So my local council does the things on that list

Do some areas have a local and a parish council? I’m confused.

A parish council is a tier of local government, and I thought everywhere (in England) had both parish council and town/county/borough council.

A few years ago, before I went back full time (I'm now an equity partner) I flirted with getting on board l. I was already Chair of our lovely PTA and even that was taking up too much of my time, once I got back to work. So I put it out of my mind.

I do agree that they see things from one point of view. Their own.

There's also an infuriating man in charge. I swear, I'd be done for murder before season's end, so there's that...

I don't think they had a meeting about this - they're likely all shielding.

For the record, I am glad that they do this type of thing for the good of our gorgeous village. I do not like it when people complain and complain about something, never to stand up with a plan or a way to make things right themselves. That's not me. I am on the fundraising side of things because I have big ovaries and can get brilliant prizes for the Fayres at Christmas and Summer and I organise rotas and that. Don't think I'm kicking back reading them Daily Mail and kicking off without my own ideas - I am grateful to the PC for all their work. I don't want to do it, that's for sure!

On this issue, I think they've done it for the wrong reasons. Their poster doesn't mention not having the staff to inspect the grounds. It says "because of Covid 19" and "following government guidelines". Which is simply a misinterpretation.

Just for the record, not all are white men, aged 65+

I'm a mum in my early 40s with a full time (key worker) job.
I'm a Parish councillor and a district councillor. I do these things because I think it's important to contribute to the community and because I enjoy it.
I have had to fight for election on all six times that I have stood.
I have learned so much about local government and how it all feeds into itself. I would encourage anyone who cares enough to have commented on this thread to go to the meetings and learn for yourself

One of ours until recently was a black woman in her 20s.

Agree with Red! Our Parish Council has four women, two who work and two retired, and two men, one a young family man and the other retired.