I love the idea that the LPFMG was set up to meet hot chicks.

I have to say I did wonder who would represent the vast number of families and groups who hold all day volley-ball and basketball sessions and limbo competitions (yes I did see that) on that bit of ground over the warmer months. It does get well used as far as I can see. Parties and picnics too.

Why bring this to the table in the depths of winter when the entire park is virtually deserted? Very few people will be around to see the planning consent notices on lampposts should the council progress with this.

In my mind, for this to get support the council has to offer something to all the local users who would be displaced. If revenue from this private company is put back into visible resources for the wider community then it would get my support.

Though it is a bit forlorn, the space as it stands is open for all manner of uses and to a wide group within the community. A 5-a-side complex is one pastime, played by one pretty narrow demographic - blokes of a certain age who can no longer hack running the length of an 11-a-side pitch. (Yes, am generalising, but I've played 5's for years and have only seen a handful of ladies playing).

Everyone has their place though (and pays their C/Tax to have leisure facilities), so I'd hope a replacement resource would be made available somewhere.

Where I have seen this emerging elsewhere the Council get an offer they find hard to refuse as they are essentially getting money for nothing - as far as they see it in a strict amenity space provision sense.

The offer usually requires the use to be restricted to the company's clients at core times (early evenings and most of the weekend) with some kind of public/community use at other times.

Why not encourage the Council to reprovide the hardstanding somewhere else in the park (or get the proposal shifted elsewhere)?

Mark, it's not a thoroughly bad idea. The private operator provides facilities and managment of an operation that is much in demand by a significant minority. Girls not playing team sports is not the issue. Why can't we have both, and have other facilities benefit from the income?

Think of it as a tax on those objectionable men and their hatchbacks who like football. Better?

And why is the hardstanding there in the first place? I would imagine it was put there for a reason? Anyone?

Better five-a-side pitches than basketball courts. Who plays basketball? It's a minority sport for tall people, the provision of facilities for which is some sort of PC pandering to ethnic minorities, as though young black kids want to be the next Michael Jordan rather than the next Jermain Defoe.

I've played basketball on those courts exactly once in eight years, so it's not like I'm going to miss them, but the idea that we need more football pitches is absurd. If you want to play football, all you need is an empty field and four jumpers. There's plenty of open space in the park that goes unused most of the time.

If you want to play basketball, you need a hard surface and a basket. You can't make do with another space that's not specifically designed for the sport.

Maybe the reason it's a minority sport is that there aren't enough basketball courts in the city. It's the perfect city sport. It requires a lot less space than football, you can play it on your own, in almost any weather.

If you want to get rid of an American sport, I vote for baseball. The baseball (softball?) field is hardly ever in use. They play, what, one game a week?

ADGS, some specific howlers jumped out and made the book seem sloppily written and/or badly edited - examples below. But typos and inaccuracies aside, I thought the attempt to convey a sense of Britain today via colour and anecdotes from particular places was a bit hamfisted and repetitive, and compared poorly to London Orbital, where Iain Sinclair already made many of the points Minton wants to make more subtly and effectively. And aside from the place-specific anecdotes, the policy argument contains too many platitudes and unsourced assertions for my taste. The author seems obsessed with Denmark, repeating a dozen times that Denmark is the happiest country in the world and with far superior mental health to the UK. Oddly she doesn't comment on Denmark's suicide rate being twice as high as Britain's (see Annex 3).

To be fair, I thought the analysis of New Labour's policy failures on crime, ASBOs and social housing in the second half of the book is spot-on, and better argued than the stuff on private control of public spaces at the front of the book.

"Historically, the East End of London has always been the poorest part of the capital, but, the docks were a commercial hub." (p10)

"...much of the capital was owned by a small of group of private landlords..." (p19)

"Changing trends in behaviour... are witnessing changes" (p166)

Discussion of NEETs on p157: the author wrongly explains the acronym as 'Not Engaged in Education or Training' and wrongly states that NEETs are not included in official unemployment figures (most are included, as Table 3 of the official release makes clear.

The official consultation is now live on the council's website, though oddly the link from here seems to be broken. Be sure to have your say so that the council can ignore it, as is traditional.

Meanwhile, HarringayOnline has an even longer thread than this one discussing the pros and cons. Everyone there is jolly cross about a private company running it except CoachNeil of the baseball and softball club, who may or may not be American.

Seems like there is no information on the operating hours but one assumes that it will be open quite late to make it pay. Glad I don’t live near to it because it will be quite noisy with all the shouting and grunting that goes on with 5 a side. I am a bit amazed to see that they can get ten pitches a pavilion and car parking for 83 cars on that bit of tarmac. Obviously expecting people from outside the area to drive there, doesn’t really cover the issue of how people will, get there from the tube, which bit of the park will be open in the dark etc. Apparently the current users ie disabled cycling, basket ball, model cars etc will be relocated to the slab down near to the Skateboard rink. There is a consolation document which you can down load from the link which I am going to send back as it asks questions about what else people would like to see in the park

Graeme, the HarringayOnline thread is here, though I believe you need to be logged in to read it.

Plan to build pitches on the volleyball courts appears to have been shelved:

main page

Part 1

Part 2
(online pdfs)