Battersea Park closed due to Formula E Post Reply

[atbattersea]

I was interested to read this in a recent Nappy Valley events email:

It's the culmination of the Formula E Championship later this month and it's happening in our back yard! Battersea Park will see the climax of the racing season, which has visited Buenos Aires, Moscow, Miami and Monaco. Some lucky local residents will be given free tickets, but they're available to buy for the rest of us and you can visit the park as normal during the course of the weekend. Just remember to look both ways (and fast!)

Contrast this with the official word from Wandsworth council:

To accommodate the event, Battersea Park will need to close to the public. The park will close from 10.30pm (the normal park closing time) on Friday 26 June until 6.30am on Wednesday 1 July. This closure is to allow for the event to take place and for the main de-rig of the event's infrastructure.

http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/info/20052 ... ric_racing

So, the park will in fact be closed for public access for four days. And of course there will be additional parking controls in the locality as well as overspill into the wider area.

[juliantenniscoach]

Wow that's quite a closure. Does anyone have any more information? They can't close the whole park surely?

[BTCparent]

If you scroll down further on the council website link it does indicate that certain limited sections of the park will remain open.

[NYE31]

Areas of the park that will remain open to the public

During normal park opening hours, the following areas of the park will remain open to the public:

the Riverside Walk from Albert Bridge to Chelsea Bridge with access at both ends of the park;

an area to the east of the athletics track with access via Chelsea Gate.

[topmama]

We live verry close to the park and have a dog who is walked in the park everyday, so the closure will be annoyed....however we (well particularly my son and husband) are really looking forward to the event!

Tickets went on sale a couple of weeks ago and the cheapest are reasonably priced. At seems Battersea Park is the London (UK) venue after Beijing, Miami, Bueros aires, Monte Carlo and Moscow...amongst others.

So I think it is going to be very exciting.....some people complain about anything!

[atbattersea]

That text has changed since last night, it said "it is intended…" that these parts will remain open. Either way, 5% of the park being open is a long way from the Nappy Valley events email claiming that:

you can visit the park as normal during the course of the weekend

Also, take a look at the map Wandsworth Council have provided:

http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/downloads/ ... _the_event

Around 95% of the park will be closed for the four days listed above. This includes all of the major facilities like the all weather pitch, children's play areas, tennis courts and the athletics track. There will only be one small area open, and this is only accessible from the Chelsea Bridge entrance.

When it says the Riverside Walk will be open, it literally means the 10m wide strip of tarmac that runs alongside the river.

As a regular park user I think this is absolutely unreasonable. It's particularly irksome given that most of the area closed to the public will not be used for the racing, it's just inaccessible because the track runs almost right around the perimeter. They should have built bridges so that we can cross into the main area of the park.

Better still, they should have held the event at a racing track, that is set up and dedicated to this type of event - or held it in a place that is mostly closed to the public anyway, like the old racing track at Crystal Palace (where the park would be unaffected)

[atbattersea]

some people complain about anything!

It is a public park, for the use of the public, not a money making enterprise to be exploited by Wandsworth Council so that they can make themselves look better (while avoiding doing the things they're put in office for).

[Pud1]

I'm with you topmama. What a great opportunity for our local area to host such an event. I know some people struggle with change but surely you can cope without the park for four days?!!

[atbattersea]

What a stupid thing to write "struggle with change"!?

I'm not struggling with change, what I'm struggling to understand is that Wandsworth Council treat the park as a profit centre. There are far too many events in Battersea Park that restrict access or make it difficult to use in one way or another. A couple of weeks ago you had the Chelsea flower show, where the park is turned into a giant car park - coaches vans and cars zooming around all over the place and no one supervising them. An aside to that is that there is supposed to be a 12mph speed limit in the car parks, now they've taken out the speed humps and resurfaced them people think they're on the road and just drive around at 25-30+. I stopped someone the other day doing it - he said "Eh, what was I doing, 25, may be 30…" Yes, but the speed limit is 12. "Oh" he says.

This weekend there's a run in the park. These involve fencing off areas of the park, and again, because the track runs around the perimeter of the park, limiting people's access to most of the park because they cannot get across the track (for the weight of runners).

The Formula E race is not just four days, it's four days every June for the next five years, at least.

One of the most annoying things about these events is that they never clear up properly afterwards. So, months later you still see the detritus of the event scattered around the park.

And while the Council must be literally raking in millions for all these events, they cannot fix a couple of blocked drains in the park that regularly cause flooded paths - that I have been complaining about for a year! Or, the drains on Broughton Street for that matter.

So maybe I am struggling with change, a change in the behaviour of Wandsworth Council, so it can try to get the basic things right - like cleaning and unblocking drains - and think about how it can hold events without blocking access to the park.

[atbattersea]

Forgot to post this:

https://www.fixmystreet.com/reports/Wandsworth

[LP73]

As a family we cannot wait for the Formula E event. It's fantastic for us all living so close and I am sure will be a fantastic weekend for all that would like to be involved.

I am sure that the money Wandsworth Council make will go towards keeping our council tax low and being out back int the community.

So many large events happen North of the river so it's wonderful to have a share of something spectacular.

I think rather than sounding like Victor Meldew, get behind the event, support it, smile and have fun. Failing that you could always leave London for a few days holiday, rent your house out and make some money

[Pud1]

Here, here LP73.

[Seb]

Lets all calm down and spread a little peace and love

I agree that closing the park will inconvenience some people, and for some people that's a big deal.

I also agree that it'll be amazing to have proper motor racing on our doorstep.

Come on everyone, it's the weekend!!!

[atbattersea]

I am sure that the money Wandsworth Council make will go towards keeping our council tax low and being out back int the community.

C'mon - they don't want to put anything back into the community. They just have an ideology of "let's cut everything to the bone" and "let's try to get the private sector to pay for everything".

So, what we end up with is a lot of privatisation in the Battersea Park (I'm sure we all remember the Council's promises when they tore down the adventure playground - "oh, we're going to add this and that, and these other things, and we're even thinking about a tree-top walkway". Well, the walkway is going to happen, but it's going to be a private enterprise, at £17 a pop, and the other things won't happen, because all the infrastructure needed for the walkway will block any other expansion).

Then there is the ridiculous amount of money they are getting a developer to spend on the Queenstown Circus roundabout (the price of getting planning permission). Surely they learnt from the previous cycle lanes installed here, that were installed at great expense, but that no one ever used.

And why can't they clean out a couple of drains in the park so that the paths don't flood?

I'm not be a spoilsport, there are three really clear indicators of that: one of my family members has won tickets to the event (this doesn't stop me believing that this is the wrong event in the wrong place), I have suggested a different venue, that actually has a racing track in place (and there must be 20 or more tracks around the country that would love this event), and I wouldn't really be that bothered about it either way if the general public still had access to the park (ie they should have built bridges over the track so that the rest of us can get in).

But, I only really have two points to make:

1 NappyValleyNet.com is wrong in send out an email telling everyone that "you can visit the park as normal during the course of the weekend" and should correct that mistake.

2 There are far too many of these events in the park, they are not one-offs, there is ongoing disruption due to one corporate event or another.

On a political/devolution theme all the London boroughs should essentially be scrapped and power handed over to the GLA. Or at least significant infrastructure like the roads, pools, sports facilities, schools, commons and parks.

(if you look at the agenda of the Council that's basically what they would like, building economies of scale with other boroughs and making a lot of politicians/civil servants redundant would save a lot of money)

Now you Wandsworth cheerleaders can carry on.

[EHMorris]

As a regular park user and very local resident I agree there are far too many events in the park which impact the users. And whilst we are on the topic, the gondola restaurant by the boating lake is really awful and a huge missed opportunity in my opinion.