Moor Park “least affected” by budget cuts

Moor Park may not suffer the effects of council cutbacks as much as other park’s in Preston, according to an environment councillor.

Preston City Council is trying to make savings and recently funding in city parks has been halved from £40,000 to £20,000 this year. Park inspections have been cut from every two days to only once a week.

The council have saved £79,000 in the past year by not replacing five gardeners and a Park Ranger who left their jobs.

Easiest to maintain

But Cllr Anthony Gornall says that Moor Park will not feel the effects of the budget cuts as much as Haslam or Avenham Park.

“Moor Park is possibly one of the most easiest of the parks to maintain.”

“Because it is a wide open space it is easy for us to cut the grass and therefore it is low maintenance. Other parks which require more gardening and maintenance will suffer more.”

Chairman of the Environment Review Panel at Preston Council, Cllr Alan Hackett says that if the council continue on their current budget scheme they will be £1.8 million in debt by 2011.

New Budget

Preston City Council have scheduled a series of meetings over the coming months to discuss a new budget. Last month the council announced that broken light bulbs would not be repaired unless there is “a real health and safety issue.”

Dilapidated and defaced

But despite Moor Park being a low maintenance site, the budget cuts mean that the dilapidated and defaced areas of the park may not be restored anytime soon.

And with less frequent Park inspections crime in the park may increase.

“One of the more visible signs of the cutbacks is the fact we may have less money for full-time Park Rangers,” says Cllr Gornall.

Moor Park currently has no permanent Park Ranger after the previous incumbent has been on an extended period of sick leave. “But we are working hard to develop a volunteer ranger system to help solve the problem,” says Cllr Gornall.

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Park struggles to shake off tarnished reputation

Preston’s Moor Park, the city’s oldest and most prestigious park has developed a reputation for crime, sexual assaults and degradation in recent years.

In May 2007, Moor Park put Preston on Europe’s Musical map when it hosted Radio 1’s Big Weekend, the largest free music event of its kind, with 35,000 revellers attending the festival over two days.

But since then, a host of incidents of crime, sexual assault and illicit sexual activities has seen the Park’s reputation plummet.

2008 has seen a number of crime incidents in Moor Park.

Ms Sara Cuff, 37, who used to live on St Thomas’ Road opposite the park has now moved to Lea because of her experiences of living near to the park.

‘I didn’t use the park very much because I had the impression it was dangerous. Once I was walking through with my baby in a pram and I was followed by a man in the bushes along the footpath.”

“Everytime I went on after that I felt vulnerable and threatened, and that was during the day. It gets ten times worse at night.”

“Worse at night”

“Often kids used to throw stones at houses and play with fireworks. I even saw a youth driving a motorcycle in the children’s play area.”

In response to the council’s decision to cut funding to it's parks, Ms. Cuff stated that: “Security and funding needs to be stepped up if anything. The park is in an awful state.”

Jody Fairclough, a 19 year old student from Ashton, says that she avoids the Park and once saw a man lurking in the bushes when she was walking home one night.

“Everything bad that can happen seems to happen on Moor Park. It’s not a nice place.”

Largest and oldest park

Moor Park was created in 1235 as Preston Moor by Henry III, Moor Park was one of the first public parks in the country. It was a town meeting place before it became a municipal park in 1833.

It is Preston’s largest and oldest park but in recent times it has slipped far behind Avenham and Haslam Park in the list of the cities favourite parks.

And with budget cutbacks, less security checks and no permanent Park Ranger, it appears Moor Park will struggle to repair its reputation any time in the near future.

Moor Park remains target for ‘Doggers’

Preston’s Moor Park remains a prime site for ‘dogging’ and other illicit sexual activities because the council will not install CCTV cameras due to budget cuts.

Preston City Councillor, Mr Frank De Molfetta, called for CCTV cameras to be installed after the car park opposite Preston North End’s Deepdale Stadium was exposed as a popular spot for ‘doggers’.

Concern

Cllr De Molfetta expressed his concern about the rising numbers of people using the site for sex with strangers and voyeurism.

“At the present time the suggestion of the CCTV has not been implemented due to lack of funding,” says Cllr De Molfetta.

“My constituents have relayed to me about the problem and with Police cooperation the problem is getting better.”

Vulnerable

Preston City Council announced this month that Park inspections would be cut from every two days to just once a week, leaving the area more vulnerable to crime and other illicit activities

Not Aware

But a spokesperson for Preston Police has said they are not aware of any incidents of ‘dogging’ in Moor Park

“We have not had any reports of any such incidents and we would hope that if anyone did see anything of this nature they would report to us immediately.”

“As far as we are aware no-one has raised the issue at any recent Moor Park PACT meetings,” he said.

Councillor De Molfetta has confirmed that he has contacted the Police on behalf of his residents: “I have spoken to PCSO Dave Grundy in the past month or two after the Pact Meeting with the promise that I will be looking into following residents concerns.”

“It could be that the residents like to talk to Local Councillors and they may not wish to talk to the Police.”

“Excellent for dogging once it gets dark”

The website www.swingingheaven.co.uk states that Preston’s Moor Park is “excellent for dogging once it gets dark” and that ‘dogging’ is a popular activity throughout the North West.

A search for “Dogging in Preston” reveals 14 pages of discussion on the website’s interactive forum and provides would-be doggers with warnings about locations likely to be monitored by the Police.


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Moor Park ‘least affected’ by budget cuts

Moor Park may not suffer the effects of council cutbacks as much as other park’s in the city, according to the cabinet member for Environment and Regeneration.

Preston Council is trying to make savings and recently funding in city parks has been halved from £40,000 to £20,000 this year.

Park inspections have been cut from every two days to only once a week. The council have saved £79,000 in the past year by not replacing five gardeners and a Park Ranger who left their jobs.

Easiest to maintain

But Cllr Anthony Gornall says that Moor Park will not feel the effects of the budget cuts as much as Haslam or Avenham Park.

“Moor Park is possibly one of the most easiest of the parks to maintain.”

“Because it is a wide open space it is easy for us to cut the grass and therefore it is low maintenance. Other parks which require more gardening and maintenance will suffer more.”

Chairman of the Environment Review Panel at Preston Council, Cllr Alan Hackett says that if the council continue on their current budget scheme they will be £1.8 million in debt by 2011.


New Budget

Preston City Council have scheduled a series of meetings over the coming months to discuss a new budget.

Last month the council announced that broken light bulbs would not be repaired unless there is “a real health and safety issue.”


Dilapidated and defaced

But despite Moor Park being a low maintenance site, the budget cuts mean that the dilapidated and defaced areas of the park may not be restored anytime soon.

And with less frequent Park inspections crime in the park may increase.

“One of the more visible signs of the cutbacks is the fact we may have less money for full-time Park Rangers,” says Cllr Gornall.

“But we are working hard to develop a volunteer ranger system to help solve the problem.”