August Updates from GRH OYD
STAR PRIZE GETS PEOPLE EXCITED AT GARDEN PARTY
The GRH Annual Garden Party attracted almost a hundred adults and children back in July. The price of the adult tickets was held at the same price as the past two years and children, as always, were free.
Su Pollard TV star and regular friend of GRH was the special guest again and kept people entertained as she introduced the musical acts. The Honeysuckle Jazz Band are regulars and also appearing this time was vocalist Ailsa Mainwaring plus, as is now traditional, the Etcetera Morris Men who encouraged as many people to join in as possible.
The Bar and Cava Bar were kept busy all afternoon and a new attraction Hook a Duck was as popular with adults as it was with children.
The highlight of the afternoon was the Raffle Draw that this year had prizes worth a total of £500 including meals at local restaurants, an indispensible holiday hamper and two bottles of ‘Le Male’ aftershave by Jean Paul Gaultier worth an amazing £95 each.
But most excitement of the day came when it was time to draw the winning ticket for the top prize of the afternoon – a genuine Tottenham Hotspur Shirt signed by the 2024/25 team
After another successful day GRH would like to send a big THANK YOU to Adrian and Anne for allowing us to use the wonderful surroundings of their beautiful garden.
WHAT A LOAD OF RUBBISH !
A team of residents recently met on a warm Sunday morning for the GRH Community Litter Pick Event.
Twenty residents of all ages, including children with parents and grandparents were handed litter pickers, bags, bag hoops and even given a couple of key safety reminders and they were off. One picker commented, “I’ve done this before but it’s never been this organized.’
With litter visible across Gentleman’s Row/Chase Green Gardens, in the kerbside and on verges, the group quickly began filling their bags. The entire green space, flower beds and adjoining roads were cleared of litter and other waste items.
Overflowing bins were skimmed, footpaths cleared of litter and other rubbish and in little over an hour the area had been visibly transformed.
An amazing total of 22 bags of litter and sweepings were collected during the session. Alongside drinks cans, bottles, cigarette packets and fast-food packaging other items including vapes, a blanket and an algae covered coat pulled from the New River Loop were cleared.
The presence of the team sent a clear message to those passing by that littering is not tolerated in this neighbourhood. The efforts were supported by the many people that stopped to say thank you.
At the end of the session, while enjoying well-earned cool drinks next to the mound of 22 sacks, the mood was positive. Those attending reflected on how much they enjoyed taking part and how they were inspired by the impact made.
News of the work done did not go un-noticed and photos soon featured on local digital channels receiving multiple likes and positive comments.
A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE WHO JOINED IN!
GROUP LAUNCH LEGAL CHALLENGE TO ENFIELD COUNCIL
This glossy handbill from the SAVE WHITEWEBBS group may well have dropped through your letterbox during the past couple of weeks.
The campaigners object to the Council’s plans to lease part of Whitewebbs Park to Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. There have been hundreds of objections but last month the plans were given the go ahead. The objectors say that the development will involve the loss of 40 acres of grassland and the felling of 200 tress.
As part of their campaign they have produced a short five minute very effective video which you can watch right here right now by clicking on:
LONELY GOOSE MAKES FRIENDS
( A message from Laura the GRH Wildlife & Pets Correspondent)
Further to a previous article, it appears that our bullied lonely Canada Goose (the one with distinctive white flecks on his neck) has settled and made some new friends. He was sighted sitting with his new companions and happily eating dry porridge oats with them.
GENTLEMAN’S ROW RESIDENT CELEBRATES BIG BIRTHDAY!
Local resident Maureen recently celebrated her 90th birthday. The cake was large (and tasted wonderful) and a good time was had by all at her birthday tea party.
Happy birthday Maureen from all at GRH!
FOUNTAIN TAKEN OUT OF SERVICE DUE TO HEALTH AND SAFETY CONCERNS
The Millennium ‘Fountain’ in Chase Green Gardens continues to be in a state of disrepair as it has done for more than a year now. Dust, leaves and litter all collect in its main base but its main problem is - it’s the fountain with no water!
We wrote about it in the GRH Newsletter a couple of months ago and spoke to Councillor Mike Rye, one of the three Councillors for the Town Ward that GRH is part of. He contacted the Council Officer who took the decision ‘to take the fountain out of service due to health and safety concerns’.
There were various questions that Councillor Rye asked on our behalf. He got quite a detailed 350 word answer including the phrase, ‘I will be happy to speak directly with members of the GRH Residents’ Committee on this matter’.
Some of the answers to our questions were confusing so we invited a new resident to Gentleman’s Row, who happens to work for another London Council, to reply and ask further questions where necessary.
The exchange between The Enfield Officer and the new resident discussing why the fountain stands neglected is detailed, very informative and interesting.
Following the reply from GRH we have not, so far, been invited by the Officer to speak ‘directly about this matter’.
INSTEAD OF JUST GIVING EXTRACTS WE HAVE DECIDED TO PRINT THE FULL EXCHANGE (our questions are in BLUE) :
LBE Council Email:
I took the decision some time ago to take this fountain out of service due to health and safety concerns and a number of faults that require a complete re-think on the design. Here’s a summary of my concerns:
GRH Questions
Is this an officer level decision and were ward Cllrs briefed and agreed to taking the fountain out of service?
Was this initially a temporary measure and if so has this extended period/permanent decision been agreed by ward Cllrs?
Is this part of a drive to make savings by the council rather than for legitimate health and safety reasons? (how many people in the last 25 years have been hurt, injured, fallen ill etc as a direct result of the fountain?)
Have all the difficult to measure benefits of the fountain been considered in the decision making – improvements to the local area, quality of life of residents, visitors, green space users, mental health benefits etc.
Environmental Health concerns:
Normal operation of the fountain introduces significant bacterial hazards due to the feature, attracting birds and ducks which use it for bathing, causing the basin to become heavily contaminated with faeces and other organic matter.
This creates an environment that would require intensive chemical treatment and ongoing monitoring to maintain acceptable bacterial levels. My records from last year indicate that even with weekly shock dosing and monthly cleaning and disinfection, bacterial control could not be effectively maintained and that high counts of E.coli, Coliforms and Pseudomonas were recorded.
In accordance with HSG274 Part 3, the operation of the fountain falls under the legal requirements set out in the Health and Safety at Work Act, COSHH regulations, and ACoP L8, which mandate that a suitable and sufficient Legionella risk assessment be carried out and that control measures are implemented and monitored. Our operation of the fountain was in compliance with those regs but the residual risk remains too high to operate safely.
GRH Questions
The fountain is in close proximity to the New River Loop in a tree and shrub bound greenspace. The presence of water fowl and other birds would have been known prior to the design and approval of a fountain for this area. As such this would have been incorporated into the management and maintenance plans for the fountain. Why was a fountain here considered if this was to be cited as an issued that could force closure?
The New River Loop has a negligible flow with little obvious aquatic vegetation to naturally filter the organic matter produced by the water and wildfowl that proliferate here. How is the health and safety risk managed for this water course. If this is the responsibility of Thames Water could they provide some expertise to the council which could assist with the after operation of the fountain.?
Across London, borough have water features that appear to function and operate with robust management and maintenance plans in place. Is there no learning that the council can gain from networks with other boroughs public realm teams?
The grassed areas and pathways close to the New River Loop are frequently littered with bird mess. This is walked through by users of the open space, their pets, as well as getting on scooter, bike and wheelchair wheels. What measures are in place to by the council in terms of bacterial control for the soiling of grass and hardstanding areas by wildfowl and birds?
Could a suitable physical cover such as a metal mesh be placed over the pool area of the fountain to prevent birds from bathing in the water and greatly reduce the incidences of the water being fouled by their mess?
Alongside a physical barrier could aquatic plants with known aeration and filtration qualities be placed into the fountain pool to manage the water in a more natural way, encouraging greater biodiversity and reducing/eliminating the need for ongoing chemical treatment?
Safety concerns:
The underground plant room, housing the main pump and brominator, presents significant safety concerns. It is constructed from brickwork, and during periods of heavy rainfall, both the walls become saturated, where water accumulates at the base. This persistent ingress creates an unsafe environment, raising structural stability concerns. In its current condition, I would not recommend entry by maintenance teams as there is a genuine risk of entrapment or injury should the structure deteriorate or collapse.
GRH Questions
Could the condition survey report/structural report form the surveyor be shared? If carried out in house would the council be open to an independent surveyor assessing the plant room and associated infrastructure to provide an independent verdict on its current condition, the immediate dangers/safety implications this poses and the estimated costs of carrying out the works to bring this up to a compliant standard?
Options:
The current design presents considerable challenges and would require a redesign or structural upgrade to bring the system back into safe and sustainable use. This would include waterproofing the plant room, ensuring proper drainage, modifying the feature to reduce organic contamination, and an increased chemical treatment plan for control. There would be considerable expense to this option, likely capital costs exceeding £100k, plus annual maintenance of circa £10-20k. This option is currently unaffordable therefore the only available option is to decommission the fountain in the hope that a better solution can be found in the future.
GRH Questions
This design would have been evaluated for its suitability to be placed in this location when approval was given for this to proceed. All the issues raised would have been known at the time – the new rive loop has been in place for centuries, the ducks and birds similarly would have been present 25 years ago. Suitable management and maintenance plans with appropriate budgets should have been put in place. As far as I am aware this was not to be a temporary feature but a permanent structure and centrepiece of the borough’s celebration of the Millenium for current and future generations to enjoy.
All are aware of the financial pressures that the council faces however works have and continue to take place in Enfield Town with new features created including seating areas, rain gardens etc. While funding streams may be different it is difficult to understand how the council on the one had seems to be delivering these new features which will require ongoing maintenance and management for decades to come while seeming unable or unwilling to adequately manage and maintain those it already has. How will a redundant fountain, once also the focus of council newsletters, comms and fanfare, siting decaying and redundant at the entrance to an improved Enfield Town look to residents and visitors and the perception they have of a seemingly failing council.
While the one off capital and ongoing revenue costs sound significant in the overall multimillion pound budgets for place based services these are small figures. While many areas of the council will be overspending and leaning on placed based services to prop up finances – children’s services, adult social care, housing for new arrivals etc. I would suggest that the council considers identifying the finances for this work and considering the benefits this fountain when operational brings to the residents and visitors to this area, many being children and older residents. An operational fountain also attracted people to the benches for their lunch, tow work outside, some contemplation time etc acting as a natural deterrent to the ASB including street drinking, drug taking and associate littering which all creates demand on council services and increased clean up costs.
There are 90 households that make up the Gentlemans Row, Holly Walk and River View residents association catchments. All of these properties will be council tax payers and net contributors to the council general fund. If conservatively each household is paying £200 pcm in council tax (in reality this is likely much higher given the bands some of the properties will be in) this is over £215k per annum. At the moment most residents have their waste collected and see intermittent cleaning of the area take place. While we understand the complex nature of how council tax is used, can you appreciate how residents here fail to see cost as the reason to decommission this much loved feature?
On the doorstep of the fountain a 5 storey housing block is being constructed which will have 78 units created. In addition to the increased council tax income generated from this development when in occupation can you outline whether the work required to bring the fountain back into operation were a consideration of the Sc106 stipulations for the developer? If not why was this opportunity not captured and are there any other funding opportunities available for the revitalisation of local features such as the fountain via central government, regional or third party routes that the local community could work in partnership with the council to access?
AND FINALLY…..
The best kept public garden in the whole of Enfield has, for years, been the Memorial Gardens at the bottom of Windmill Hill.
That changed a few months ago when the beautiful, neatly planted, brightly coloured seasonal bedding plants were replaced with a more permanent display. At first it looked unpromising and bleak but over a period of a couple of months it changed into something quite beautiful as the new plants took hold.
The gardens are part of the route that many GRH residents take on their way to the station. A few months ago many were complaining about the ‘drab’ Memorial Gardens but now the opinions have changed and are much more favourable.
STAY IN TOUCH
EMAIL: grhresidents@live.com
WEBSITE: www.grhresidentsassociation.org
INSTAGRAM: @grhenfield
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/grhenfield