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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be pissed off that parks are closed?

177 replies

breadcheeseandpickle · 01/04/2021 08:20

AIBU to think this is not on?

I have complied with rules but despite some restrictions being lifted there still isn’t much on, and waking the streets is really no fun.

OP posts:
Belladonna12 · 01/04/2021 12:31

While the littering was outrageous, I'm not sure what they hope to achieve by closing the parks. It seems like an own goal because people can just meet inside their own homes. At least it was legal to meet in parks yesterday. The litter can be cleared up. The people who suffer are the young families and anyone else who uses the parks and doesn't litter. Really unfair.

Sirzy · 01/04/2021 12:34

Then the people who use the park as intended need to get angry and those who are spoiling it not at the parks that have made the choice to close in order to protect the environment.

We need to blame those responsible rather than those taking action to stop things

DanielRicciardosSmile · 01/04/2021 12:40

Its only the arboretum and Lenton rec that are shut. There are plenty still open. The forest, Wollaton, Colwick, the embankment, and loads of smaller ones too.

ClarkeGriffin · 01/04/2021 12:40

Well if people behave like children, littering, creating a mess etc, they get treated like children (grounded essentially from the park).

Maybe tell all of these so called adults to grow up and stop being disgusting?

category12 · 01/04/2021 12:46

I'd close the parks too, given how disgustingly people have littered. What is wrong with people that they behave like that?

poppycat10 · 01/04/2021 12:48

It is disgusting, but as I said upthread, there's CCTV and we have police and council countryside officers. They could maybe do their job, rather than taking the easy route and just closing things.

Deal with the perpetrators, rather than punishing the community at large.

I don't know what's wrong with people and why they feel littering and defecating in public are acceptable ways to behave, but this isn't the answer.

poppycat10 · 01/04/2021 12:51

We need to blame those responsible rather than those taking action to stop things

Criticising the action taken to stop things is acceptable. We all pay for these facilities from our extremely expensive council tax so closure should be a last resort. If there are other options, it is clearly not a last resort.

diwrnachoflleyn · 01/04/2021 12:52

@Hardbackwriter

I think it was heavy-handed and stupid to close them - they would have got less busy anyway as the weather changed and the novelty wore off, and I think we should be doing everything we can to encourage people to meet in public, open outdoors spaces - the alternative isn't that people don't see each other, that isn't realistic, it's that they socialise indoors and in private gardens (which much more easily turns into indoors).
100%! This is all fucking ridiculous now.
UrAWizHarry · 01/04/2021 12:52

@ClarkeGriffin

Well if people behave like children, littering, creating a mess etc, they get treated like children (grounded essentially from the park).

Maybe tell all of these so called adults to grow up and stop being disgusting?

And the vast majority of people who aren't littering?

Maybe the police should do their jobs rather than just going 'fuck it, let's close the parks'.

Alsohuman · 01/04/2021 12:58

@ClarkeGriffin

Well if people behave like children, littering, creating a mess etc, they get treated like children (grounded essentially from the park).

Maybe tell all of these so called adults to grow up and stop being disgusting?

Maybe the “children” who pay for the parks should withhold a portion of their council tax? I know I’d feel tempted.
boredbuttercup · 01/04/2021 13:02

I think it was heavy-handed and stupid to close them - they would have got less busy anyway as the weather changed and the novelty wore off, and I think we should be doing everything we can to encourage people to meet in public, open outdoors spaces - the alternative isn't that people don't see each other, that isn't realistic, it's that they socialise indoors and in private gardens (which much more easily turns into indoors).

100% this. There seems to be a massive lack of common sense. Part of the complaints, as well as litter, was also that it was too busy and therefore people couldn't distance enough (despite the fact that evidence has shown outdoor transmission is negligible, all the outcry's about the beaches and BLM protests last year but the actually didn't lead to any spikes in cases Hmm) Well by closing some of the green spaces you're only going to push more people into the remaining ones so they'll be even busier and more crowded and people will be able to distance even less. It's not at all realistic to expect people who've been shit up for months in tiny flats/houses with no outdoor space not to go out and enjoy the sun now.

NewModelArmyMayhem18 · 01/04/2021 13:02

Are children not taught to bin their litter or take it home any more? If not, it's time to reintroduce "keep Britain tidy" and teaching the countryside code. Mine certainly were and I would not ever expect them to be leaving litter behind anywhere. Mind you, bottles, cans and sandwich wrapper litter is surely preferable to dumped dirty nappies which seems quite a common practice too (and it won't be students doing the latter will it?).

NewModelArmyMayhem18 · 01/04/2021 13:05

The other thing is that Britain is renowned for its urban green spaces. It's not as if there's a lack of them, so just very lazy to all descend on the same ones! I would prefer a quiet and peaceful park to one that's crowded, even if it did mean a longer walk or public transport to get there!

DumplingsAndStew · 01/04/2021 13:11

@Belladonna12

While the littering was outrageous, I'm not sure what they hope to achieve by closing the parks. It seems like an own goal because people can just meet inside their own homes. At least it was legal to meet in parks yesterday. The litter can be cleared up. The people who suffer are the young families and anyone else who uses the parks and doesn't litter. Really unfair.
You think meeting in homes is the only option other than being a vandalising, litter dropping, anti-social twat?

OK then.

boredbuttercup · 01/04/2021 13:14

You think meeting in homes is the only option other than being a vandalising, litter dropping, anti-social twat?

OK then.

@Belladonna12 quite clearly said the littering was outrageous. Hmm but yes, considering the vast majority of people in these areas don't have gardens, if public outdoor spaces are closed then meeting people in homes is the only option for people to be able to see anyone. And people absolutely do need to see people after so long being shut away.

Parker231 · 01/04/2021 13:15

I wonder what posters who think closing the parks was wrong would say if they turned up and the litter hadn’t been removed? Of course they should be closed if the public wreck the parks.

mangoontoast · 01/04/2021 13:17

the Arbo was only closed for the day. It's open again now. Not sure they closed Forest Rec at all.

MagicSummer · 01/04/2021 13:23

Unfortunately, a lot of people cannot be trusted to clean up after themselves and have zero respect for anybody else. This is is the consequence. As the saying goes, it only takes one person to spoil things for everybody else. Utter selfishness.

DdraigGoch · 01/04/2021 13:25

And this behaviour is so at odds with environmental awareness, which I thought was something young people were really into. I really am mystified by it.
@LakieLady most young people couldn't give a stuff about the environment. Sure, the chance of a day off school was attractive to some (remember the threads where the DC couldn't actually express to their parents the precise reason they wanted to truant), the chance to get the high of going to a protest for others. Caring about the environment though? Only as far as other people's behaviour needs to change. I work in a public-facing role, as far as I can see, there is no real difference in attitude between "millennials" and "boomers". Single-use coffee cups, new gadgets, car use... they're all as bad as each other.

For clarity, I'm not some old bore going on about the "youth of today", I'm 26 and appalled by the way the world is going.

DdraigGoch · 01/04/2021 13:27

If bins were more plentiful, there is NO excuse to throw it on the ground.
@lorca I'm afraid that I do not share your optimism. There are plenty of people in this world who don't bother using a bin when it is right in front of them.

Belladonna12 · 01/04/2021 13:29

@Sirzy

Then the people who use the park as intended need to get angry and those who are spoiling it not at the parks that have made the choice to close in order to protect the environment.

We need to blame those responsible rather than those taking action to stop things

Both are to blame. People shouldn't have littered the park but punishing everyone for the actions of a minority is unacceptable. Furthermore, closing the parks will just send the problem else where.
Belladonna12 · 01/04/2021 13:32

You think meeting in homes is the only option other than being a vandalising, litter dropping, anti-social twat?

I'm not suggesting it would be a good option. I'm pointing out that if the parks are closed it won't stop bad behaviour. It will just move it elsewhere. At least they were outside in the park.

Belladonna12 · 01/04/2021 13:34

@Parker231

I wonder what posters who think closing the parks was wrong would say if they turned up and the litter hadn’t been removed? Of course they should be closed if the public wreck the parks.
So you think people would prefer to stay indoors all day rather than be outside because there is litter in the park?
1forAll74 · 01/04/2021 14:03

There have been some issues with a couple of parks in my area, they haven't closed, but have more police attending ,because loads of people swamped in one the other day when it was nice weather,no social distancing etc, and a fight broke out with some young guys,and a knife was found on one of, them.
In another park, the same thing, but a man of 55, was walking his dog,on a lead,and he was attacked and punched in the face and knocked to the ground by some young thug. Both of these parks were absolutely strewn all over with little.. So everytime these places get full of people. who don't respect nice parks, more police are sent in for peoples safety.but then the police get it in the neck for being there,trying to get people to spread out a bit, and stop them climbing some nice trees in the park etc

Belladonna12 · 01/04/2021 14:17

@1forAll74

There have been some issues with a couple of parks in my area, they haven't closed, but have more police attending ,because loads of people swamped in one the other day when it was nice weather,no social distancing etc, and a fight broke out with some young guys,and a knife was found on one of, them. In another park, the same thing, but a man of 55, was walking his dog,on a lead,and he was attacked and punched in the face and knocked to the ground by some young thug. Both of these parks were absolutely strewn all over with little.. So everytime these places get full of people. who don't respect nice parks, more police are sent in for peoples safety.but then the police get it in the neck for being there,trying to get people to spread out a bit, and stop them climbing some nice trees in the park etc
What has the 55-year-old man being attacked got to do with the park being full? Are you seriously suggesting that if parks are shut people are less likely to get attacked by thugs?