The endangered future of Gunnersbury Park has been much in the news, including the launching of petitions by Labour and the Lib-Dems to stop the council's proposals to sell off part of the park for housing.
The council's reply to this avalanche of negative publicity and public concern has been to decree that future meetings of the Gunnersbury Park Regeneration Board (discussing all matters relating to the park) will not only continue to be held in secret but will not have full minutes.
This is incredible. How will anyone know who said what or didn't, what was debated, what was agreed or what was rejected?
I have been told that Hounslow Council blames Ealing Council and Ealing blames Hounslow for this continued desperate attempt to ensure secrecy from the residents, other councillors and local MPs about what is going on. It is precisely this pass-the-parcel attitude to the management of Gunnersbury Park in the past that has led to the ruin of the park.
Who is the anonymous person, hiding in the background, who has made this decision? We elect councillors to represent us, to safeguard our community and our heritage for posterity, not to sell the family silver. We have the right to know who is trampling on our democratic rights, who believes he can behave in this outrageous fashion without being called to account. Whoever he is he should be prepared to come out from the shadows and defend his decision.
GUNNERSBURY PARK COVENANT GROUP
