Residents fume at £118K ‘waste’ of money for fences around basketball court

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

Residents have slammed a council’s £118,000 plan to put up giant fences around their estate’s basketball court – branding it a waste of money that nobody asked for.

Lambeth council wants to enclose the basketball court on the Central Hill estate in Gipsy Hill as part of its modernisation of an outdoor play area.

The games space, which is currently open-plan, would be fenced off into three different sections under the council’s vision which one woman claims would “cut the area in half” for the sake of making sure balls didn’t get thrown out of the play area.

But residents on the estate say no one asked for the fences and fear the plans will restrict the use of the space and make it unsafe for children.

Mum Sabine Mairey, who lives on the estate, said the council was ignoring residents’ opinions. Some children have also shown their opposition to the plans by pushing over temporary fencing.

She said: “It’s the only flat area we have here and they’re going to cut this right off. How is my daughter going to feel comfortable going into the space? Someone could come down behind and she wouldn’t be able to get out.

“We have an orchestra that comes here and we have stages here and the orchestra can’t go there any more. It’s community money being spent and it’s frustrating because it’s a poor design and poor consultation.”

She added: “They’re not listening and they get their nice MUGA [multi-use games area] and they are using the money on this and there has never been a consideration about how best to use the space.”

Ms Mairey acknowledged the existing outdoor area was in need of updating but said the planned design failed to address complaints residents had about the existing outdoor area, such as poor lighting and sharp edges on sleepers lining one side of the space.

She added that Lambeth council was taking the cash for the plans from the Tower Hamlets Environment Trust [THET], a fund dedicated to the estate’s future, and as such residents should have more say on how it was spent.

Ms Mairey continued: “The two options they gave us both had the high fences in the middle and cut the area in half. They offer the kids some pizza and say ‘which colour do you prefer?’

“Some kids were saying ‘we want the ball to stay in the court’ but when it’s up I feel do we actually want this? They’re spending £100k so the ball does not come out.”

Workers have already begun dismantling the existing play area and have put up temporary fences around the space but Ms Mairey has set up a petition signed by 30 estate residents as of last week in a desperate bid to fight the plans.

Lambeth council was contacted for comment on the plans but had failed to reply at the time of publication.

Pictured top: Kids on the estate have pushed over temporary fencing around the play area in protest at the planned play area design (Picture: Robert Firth)