Report back from our AGM

The Friends of Ruskin Park held a well-attended Annual General Meeting on Tuesday 17th January.

The formal business of the AGM was to approve our Annual Report and Accounts, which provides a good summary of our activities, priorities and finances.

We also had an opportunity to hear reflections from members and volunteers and to discuss issues affecting the park with Lambeth Council officers and councillors. The following are some of the highlights and key issues raised.

London in Bloom Gold

A particular achievement was that Ruskin Park won Gold at the London in Bloom Awards. This was in no small part due to the efforts of our litter-picking and gardening volunteers and the Lambeth Council operations team including park attendant Tim Daniels. It was heartening to hear from volunteers about the impact they are having on the park and the enjoyment it brings them.

Capital Programme

We reported that progress in delivering the capital programme – as outlined at last year’s AGM – has been slower than hoped. While we welcome Lambeth Council’s investment in Ruskin Park, we need to see better coordination and communication during the year ahead.

We recently shared information about the new playground. Lambeth has now decided to delay the start of work until September 2023, after the school holidays. We think this is a better plan, avoiding the risk of closure during the summer and giving more time for users to comment on the designs (to be shared in the coming weeks) before they are finalised. 

It’s welcome that the new playground will have more equipment aimed at a broader range of ages, but members also emphasised the desire for space in the park to cater for older children and teenagers.

Future of the redgra pitch

Kevin Crook (Assistant Director, Neighbourhoods at Lambeth Council) highlighted current uncertainty about plans to replace the ‘redgra’ sports pitch as part of the wider capital programme.

The strategic masterplan for Ruskin Park proposed a 7-a-side artificial grass football pitch and areas for informal sports and fitness, alongside improved landscaping and facilities for older children and teenagers. We remain in favour of this approach.

The Football Foundation – a charity with a positive mission to enhance grassroots facilities across the country and a possible funder – are in favour of creating a larger 9-a-side pitch in the park. However, we don’t believe that there is enough space on the current redgra for this larger pitch and other facilities without loss of grassed space and are concerned about the impact on informal, unbooked sports. We are pushing for more information on the available options and will update park users when we know more.

Stable Block

Members shared their frustrations about the continued lack of action on the park’s derelict stable block. There have been a number of different proposals and plans for the space and interest in bringing the building back into use remains strong. 

We understand that Lambeth is currently considering whether to invest funds in the building as part of its annual budget-setting process. However, it’s concerning that while discussions continue, promised basic remedial work to protect the building from further damage has not taken place.

Problems with water supplies

We are concerned that a large section of the park has been without a reliable mains water supply for a number of years. This was raised in the meeting by our park gardening volunteers, who reported the impact this had on keeping new plants alive during drought conditions in the summer. Lambeth officers reported that they are investigating several leaks with a view to undertaking repair works. We are pushing for this to be prioritised and fixed.