Parkruns at Battersea will ruin our Saturday mornings, say dismayed residents

By Charlotte Lillywhite, Local Democracy Reporter

A decision to approve of a weekly parkrun at Battersea Park has provoked outrage from residents who say their neighbourhood will be overrun on Saturday mornings.

Shocked neighbours say they weren’t properly informed of the plans, describing the move as ‘unreasonable’ and restrictive for regular users.

Wandsworth council approved plans to launch the weekly 5k running event in the much-loved 200-acre Victorian park in December last year.

Parents living next to the park have been reassured by the council that they will still be able to access to the adventure playground, GoApe, Putt in the Park and Astros, despite the influx of people, and that the runs will be monitored to ensure they do not have an “undue negative impact on the park and its other visitors”.

Maggie Thornton, 70, said: “I don’t think enough notice was given and enough research done on it to find out whether people wanted this. We have a situation where suddenly all of these people who use this park every Saturday morning are going to be affected by this parkrun, but very few of us know about it.

“I would like to know what they think the advantage to upsetting the status quo is. What extra are they bringing to the park that they don’t have there already? It just changes the whole thing about the park.”

A council spokesman said: “There would be clear benefits to the health and wellbeing of our residents who choose to take part in these free and well-organised events.”

Pictured top: Resident Maggie Thornton at Battersea Park (Picture: Charlotte Lillywhite/LDRS)