<html>
<font size=4><b>Lordship Rec skate park drainage issues<br>
<br>
</font></b><font size=3>Hi Matt cc Daisy (The Journal) bcc. Friends of
Lordship Rec<br>
<br>
<br>
Ta for the concern about the subject and all your efforts to help
maintain and improve the freestyle area... Following our brief chat on
the phone today I am responding to some of the points you have made to
the press (see your emails below, reprinted with your permission!).<br>
<br>
The Friends as a whole, and the wider Users Forum as well, share the
concern to improve the drainage in the freestyle area - and have done for
years. Everyone I've spoken to in the Council, from the parks staff to
senior officers, is aware of the problem... and this matter was specified
in the original application to the Heritage Lottery Fund submitted by the
Council in September 2007.<br>
<br>
This concern was outlined in my email to you in 2008 (see below). As you
know, since then we both looked at the drainage inlet together trying to
figure out what to do. I know that you feel that something is wrong with
the connections inside the pipe, and I passed on your views to Council
staff. However the Friends have to trust the opinions of drainage experts
who've examined the piping in more detail and who believe the key problem
is that tree roots are blocking some of the pipes. Meanwhile the parks
staff have continued to bring in specialist pumping equipment on
occasions (at least twice this year) when the flooding is severe.
Luckily, most of the year round it has been OK for people to use the area
as normal. Staff also occasionally sweep out the area and also blow out
leaves. <br>
<br>
It is brilliant that users of the freestyle area are taking care of it -
the Friends of Lordship Rec do the same for the woodland and the lake
areas, the Friends of Grahame Lee have managed their memorial plantation
by the river since 2001, and the new off road bike group 'Trax' have
proposals to repair some of the existing dirt track as a stop gap until
the new bike track is built.<br>
<br>
I agree it is very frustrating for all of us that we've had to wait so
long for the finances to be able to deal with this properly - not just
for the freestyle area drainage but also for repairing paths,
refurbishing buildings etc etc. <br>
<br>
However, until then, we are all working together to look after the park,
organise events (including the annual community festivals), discuss and
develop improvement plans, and raise the money needed. (I will send you
the minutes of a recent Users Forum meeting, which outlines all this). If
you wish to attend any of the meetings of the Users Forum (which has been
meeting monthly since 2002, open to all user groups and interested
organisations) and the Friends (meeting monthly since 2001, open to all
park users - as flagged up on all the park's notice boards) you will be
very welcome!<br>
<br>
Regarding your inaccurate and abusive comments about me personally and
the Friends generally (in your emails to the press since October which I
only heard about today), we are all just local residents and volunteers
doing our best. I know you were upset after the festival in 2007 because
the Council asked you to help remove commercial stickers stuck on the
freestyle equipment during the event. I dont see why this should lead us
to fall out. I think we should put all that behind us and focus on the
positive efforts we can all put in for the long term regeneration of our
park! <br>
<br>
<br>
best wishes<br>
<br>
Dave Morris<br>
- member of the Friends of Lordship Rec<br>
- chair of the Lordship Rec Users Forum<br>
<br>
<i>ps. The article in this week's paper is at the end...<br>
<br>
</i>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>
<br>
10.9.2008<br>
<br>
Hi Matt<br>
<br>
Its Dave from the Friends group. Ta for your thoughts. Just to let you
know that we and the Council are very aware of the flooding in the
freestyle area. The Council has done its best to pump out flooding there
many times over the last year. They have also examined inside the drains
by remote TV and believe that some are blocked/damaged. They believe it
will cost a fair bit of money to fix, but together we are trying to raise
all the money needed to improve the Rec. This we have been doing for the
last 6 years with quite a bit of success. <br>
<br>
In fact there are serious flooding problems throughout the Rec (its a
flood plain) and with the drainage that was put under the main field some
years ago. So its no simple or cheap solution. But a hydrological survey
of the park is being conducted over the next few weeks so we can all get
a better grip on the extent of the problems and the possible solutions
(including the restoration of the River Moselle, currently
culverted).<br>
<br>
Meanwhile, the hard-working parks staff have kindly agreed to try to get
a specialist pump onto the site in case it is needed on Saturday
morning.<br>
<br>
best wishes<br>
<br>
Dave<br>
<br>
cc Joan<br>
<br>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>
<br>
<blockquote type=cite cite>Begin forwarded message:<br>
<br>
</font><font face="Helvetica, Helvetica"><b><blockquote type=cite cite>From:
</b>matt skordis</font><br>
<b>Date: </b>18 December 2009 14:52:52 GMT<br>
<b>To: </b>joan curtis<br>
<b>Subject: FW: matt skordis-lordship rec skate park pics</b><br>
<br>
</b><hr>
</b><font face="Tahoma">From: matt skordis<br>
<b>Sent:</b> 18 December 2009 12:35<br>
<b>To:</b> Collins, Daisy<br>
<b>Subject:</b> RE: matt skordis-lordship rec skate park pics<br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> </font><br>
<br>
<font face="Verdana" size=2>hi daisy-could you pls let me know the
level this story -if yr going to run one, would reach?<br>
as im sure your aware,we're of the opinion that a new development costing
80 k being vandalized by the council,the lies,the lack of help and being
shunned away despite all our help-from the recs support group,and the
fact the london olympics is featuring both skateboarding and bmx when it
runs -is a big story.you've witnessed the denial and seen the proof,via
my pics to prove our story is correct,as ive said we the users
group/competion organizers, are willing to shoot more pics even write the
story to expose this dispicable behavior from both the council and the
rec support group-we're still the only ones who pump the water out and
drain & sweep the place to stop contaminated water infecting any rec
vistors,whilst both groups denie the problem even exsits.<br>
sorry to keep going on, but this is really important to the users -a huge
group of over 200 people of all ages from alll areas it also sets a
president for the sports council to insure that this does'nt get
repeated,especially after 80k being spent-badly ! on the place.<br>
if the editor decides this isnt a serious matter that needs to be heard
,pls let me know asap ,so we can get the help we need from a media group
that shares our concern when community get stuffed and put at risk.<br>
pls call ,write or send a pidgeon-let me know the papers views &
plans.<br>
<br>
regards.<br>
<br>
matt skordis<br>
<hr>
<br>
<hr>
From: <a href="mailto:proskool@hotmail.co.uk">proskool</a><br>
To: <a href="mailto:daisy.collins@archant.co.uk">daisy.collins</a><br>
Subject: matt skordis-lordship rec skate park pics<br>
Date: Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:17:13 +0000<br>
<br>
hello daisy-pls see further pics of the blocked drains of the lordship
rec-that of which have been denied by the council and ignored by the
friends of the rec group.<br>
pls let me know if u wana do something with this story as the users of
the skate park are desperate to get this story heard and help to correct
it -as not to waste this facility,and the fact that boris johson has just
put a load of money into raising sports involved with the up n coming
london olympics ,which includes skateboarding and bmx--and we've had our
skate park vanalized and then ignored -by the so called friends of the
park who are spose to help us -the users...<br>
pls let me know asap -if yr not gona run the story then im gona take it
else where.<br>
-sorry i dont mean at all to sound like an asshole or heavy at all-were
just deperate to get help as its been like this for so long and winters
coming and the place will be useless again...<br>
we're goa take this to our MP and sports council any way-we want heads to
roll for this...<br>
-<br>
the holes have been stamped/cut thru the plugs by kids with knifes-trying
to get the water to drain- iwhen i told dave dave morris-friend of the
rec-this he aqused me of being a liar !!!!<br>
this is after i dont massive work for a skate n bmx comp at a fund
raiser-free of charge for them-which was a massive success -making the
other events in the park look minamal...<br>
-i felt like perminatley installing him as part of this drain system,when
i pulled the drain lid up n showed him- he just shrugged his shoulders
and said oh well.....<br>
no one has done anything to sort this vandalizm- the real users have been
laughed at or ignored.<br>
ive also got the correction of the signage that they refused to install
b4 they -the council order the drain works to be done -rendering the
place unusable-i'll show u when we meet-under disclosure-<br>
<br>
<br>
thanx daisy.<br>
<br>
matt skordis</font></blockquote></blockquote><br>
<br>
<br>
<font size=4><b>Anger as blocked drains leave skate park under
water</font></b><font size=3> <br>
nlnews@archant.co.uk <br>
17 December 2009<br>
<br>
A skate park has been destroyed by blocked drains leaving it flooded
<br>
every time it rains, it has been claimed.<br>
<br>
Dozens of frustrated skateboarders and BMX riders claim they spend <br>
days draining the bowl in Lordship Recreation Ground, Tottenham, <br>
themselves because calls to fix the pipes have fallen on deaf ears.<br>
<br>
Matt Skordis, from Edmonton, who regularly skates in the park with <br>
his kids and has in the past run skating events at the annual <br>
Lordship Rec Festival, said: "Our skate park has been ignored and is
<br>
now completely unusable. It's been like this for well over a year.<br>
We still do go over there with water pumps and we have to get rid of
<br>
the water with our own generators. It takes about 48 hours to drain
<br>
the water out and it happens every time it rains."<br>
<br>
A thriving community of about 50 regular skaters, aged from 10 to 45,
<br>
continue to use the freestyle skate park, next to the 1920s Shell <br>
Theatre. But they are demanding the council urgently improve the
site.<br>
With the recent rainy weather, there have been very few occasions <br>
when they can actually use the bowl.<br>
<br>
"It really is a great activity but people are losing out," said
Mr <br>
Skordis. "Boris Johnson has just put a load of money into raising
<br>
sports involved with the up and coming London Olympics, which <br>
includes skateboarding and BMX, but this facility is being
wasted."<br>
<br>
The 100-acre Lordship Rec won a £400,000 grant from the London Mayor
<br>
to carry out an ambitious facelift to the park, which includes <br>
building a new city farm and play area - set to begin in October next
<br>
year.<br>
<br>
Haringey Council says the ground as a whole has "significant
drainage <br>
problems" because the drains have been damaged by tree roots. It
<br>
claimed it had also tried to prevent flooding with high pressure <br>
water jets in the last three years.<br>
<br>
Councillor Dhiren Basu, cabinet member for leisure, culture and <br>
lifelong learning, said: "This is most unfortunate. The drainage
<br>
problems affecting Lordship as a whole, including the skate park, <br>
will be dealt with as part of the proposed major regeneration works
<br>
scheduled for 2011 where £160,000 has been set aside for this
purpose.<br>
Until then, the council will be seeking to manage this problem by <br>
using a pump to remove water from the skate park and discharging it
<br>
into the Moselle Brook."<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
</font></html>