Written evidence submitted by The Heath and Hampstead Society [PKS 276]

Future of Public Parks Inquiry

I am submitting the attached evidence on behalf of The Heath & Hampstead Society. Please let me know if there are any points in the submission on which the Committee might wish the Society to expand.

Yours sincerely

THOMAS RADICE

Trustee
The Heath & Hampstead Society

HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE
Public Parks Inquiry

EVIDENCE FROM THE HEATH & HAMPSTEAD SOCIETY

Introduction: Hampstead Heath and
the work of The Heath & Hampstead Society

1              The Heath & Hampstead Society was founded in 1897 to safeguard the Heath. The Society also seeks to preserve and enhance the old streets and historic buildings of Hampstead. The Society is non party-political, but participates in local democracy and seeks to improve its working. We would draw the Committee’s attention to the range of information about the Society’s activities, particularly with reference to the Heath and the Society’s relations with the City of London, on our website (www.heathandhampstead.org.uk).

2              The Heath consists of approximately 317 hectares of land legally classified as Metropolitan Open Land (i.e. ‘green belt’), a Public Open Space and (under the London Plan) a Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation. It contains ancient woodland, UK BAP (UK Biodiversity Action Plan) Habitats and three Sites of Special Scientific Interest. For over 200 years, the landscape of the Heath, including its ponds, has been painted by hundreds of British artists, the most famous of whom is probably Constable.

3              Hampstead Heath is special in that it offers an area of varied and historic countryside in one of the largest conurbations in the world. Parts of the Heath were originally taken into public ownership and vested in the Metropolitan Board of Works under the Hampstead Heath Act 1871. Other pieces were added later.

4              The 1871 Act is the foundational piece of legislation governing the Heath and its second recital declares:

And whereas it would be of great advantage to the inhabitants of the metropolis if the Heath were always kept uninclosed and unbuilt on, its natural aspect and state being as far as may be preserved …

Who uses the Heath?

5              It receives over seven million visits a year from those who come to enjoy its natural landscape, ponds, flora and birds, and tranquillity. Most come for the quiet enjoyment of the open space. A summer Sunday sees the Heath covered in picnics and strollers. What we believe the visitors appreciate is precisely the untamed aspect of the space.

6              The Society has a special aim of preserving the Heath’s ‘wild’ and ‘natural state’. This is important, especially because the main part of the Heath is not a ‘park’ in the normal sense, although it does contain within its boundaries several areas of formal garden, as well as the separately managed (English Heritage) Kenwood House and grounds.

7              The Heath’s ‘wild aspect’ is all the more important for its rarity in London; walkers value the feel of the countryside and have to travel much further afield for a similar experience around the metropolis (e.g. Epping Forest, Wimbledon Common, Richmond and Bushy Parks).

8              The Heath also offers a kaleidoscope of other outdoor activities, including the formal gardens of Golders Hill Park, the historic pergola and Hill Garden developed by the 1st Viscount Leverhulme, two bandstands and a small zoo; there are also extensive sports facilities, e.g. three swimming ponds, the Lido and running track. The Heath hosts several cross-country events.

9              It is important that this variety is maintained, and in the Society’s view this is best achieved under the unified management and highly skilled teams of staff that have evolved and proved their worth over the years under the London County Council and its successor the Greater London Council and since taken forward with unrivalled professionalism by the City of London’s Open Spaces Department. We fully endorse what is said by the City of London in its evidence to the inquiry about the benefits, in terms of public satisfaction and value for money, of attracting and retaining in-house staff with the right skills and experience.

Health benefits

10              The Society believes – indeed considers it self-evident – that the Heath offers health benefits to its millions of users, whether it is simply for an hour of fresh air or participation in organised sport.

Reductions in funding: risks for the future

11              Although the City of London faces budget pressures in administering the Heath,  reductions in expenditure have not so far had an impact on the management of the Heath. However the Heath faces an unprecedented threat from natural problems, such as the spread of Oak Processionary Moth and other pests, as well as continuing pressure from urban development around the Heath. The costs of maintaining such a diverse area are bound to increase.

12              It is also important that there is no extension of the built environment both on and around the Heath.

Additional funding

13              The Society recognises the need for the City to raise funds through events such as weddings and the Affordable Art Fair, to contribute to the management costs of the Heath, which (as the City’s evidence shows) are substantial. However there is a limit to the number of fixed facilities that can be created or used to raise revenue (e.g. cafés) without spoiling the very thing visitors seek, the ‘wild’ and ‘natural’ space.

14              The Society worked closely with the City to ensure the City's Open Spaces bill currently before Parliament did not encourage the City to extend fund-raising activities beyond existing built spaces.

Administrative status

15              The Society believes that on the whole the City is the right authority to manage the Heath, although at times the Society has had to oppose City plans. A notable example was the project, currently nearing completion, to undertake major and intrusive works to reconstruct dams on the Heath. The Society unsuccessfully took the City's decision to build the dams to Judicial Review. The home page of the Society’s website (www.heathandhampstead.org.uk) has links (under ‘Legal proceedings’) to the text of the judgment and statements about it by the Society.

16              The Society makes an important input to the City's plans for the Heath through representation on the City's Heath Consultative Committee and its Heath Management Committee, as well as informally through walks, bilateral discussions and correspondence on particular issues.

17              The Heath faces a number of threats in the future. One of these is likely to be an increase in the number of visitors which, though desirable in terms of the visitors' recreation and health, may conflict with the aim of encouraging the wildlife which the public enjoy seeing.

18              There has been in recent years pressure from cyclists and their organisations to use more paths on the Heath alongside the walking public and this is likely to continue. The Society believes that walkers should have priority and that any increase in cycle traffic will detract from other visitors’ quiet enjoyment of the Heath as a place of relaxation, set apart from the distractions, tensions and heavy traffic of the surrounding areas.

19              Managing the conflicting demands on the Heath in itself requires adequate management and human resources to manage. The City provides such a constant and stable authority.

Other management models

20              The Society believes that the maintenance of the Heath requires long-term plans and a stable workforce who understand the nature of this valuable resource. It is important for example to maintain a dedicated group of ecologists and tree experts who can monitor and care for the many ancient trees on the Heath and its wider ecology: it is not a task suited to sub-contractors.

Parks not to be seen in isolation

21              Parks and open spaces need to be evaluated and managed with regard to their surroundings.

22              There have already been a number of houses adjoining the Heath which incoming owners have sought to overdevelop to such a level that views from the Heath would be marred. Thanks to campaigning by the Society, in conjunction with the Highgate Society, such an outcome was avoided in the case of Athlone House, a prominent Victorian landmark off Hampstead Lane.

23              Similarly there is always a threat from development to the ‘green corridors’ stretching out from the Heath, e.g. the tree cover on Highgate Hill on the East side of the Heath. The view Eastwards from Parliament Hill remains one largely of woodland.

Conclusion

24                The only reason the Heath provides such a unique place of retreat for Londoners is that the City of London is willing and able to spend substantial funds on maintaining and protecting it. Visitors from the USA comment to me that they are unaware of an equivalent attractive urban public open space in the USA; in the USA, they say, any such open space would be litter-strewn, vandalised and dangerous, especially at night. That is because in the USA, as in many parts of the UK, there is, as a matter of government policy, insufficient public funding for such open spaces. Therefore it is imperative that the Westminster government, as a matter of policy, make available sufficient funds to local government to protect urban open spaces for the purpose for which they were originally intended, a purpose which is as important and valid today as when the spaces were created more than a century ago.

September 2016