NOGOE campaigners have been left smarting by comments made by local MP, Nick Raynsford, about them at a recent House of Commons committee considering the Government’s Localism Bill.
MPs were debating proposals within the bill to give new powers to communities to nominate buildings or land as “Assets of Community Value” – properties the community would have the guaranteed time to put together a bid for if the owner decided to sell.
Mr Raynsford expressed his concern that the system could be abused and put forward his own amendment which included a provision to pay compensation to owners where community asset listings were made as a result of a “vexatious application”.
He described to the committee a “real life scenario” he had “lived with for the last five years”. The “large majority of local residents” in the borough of Greenwich welcomed the London 2012 equestrian events in Greenwich Park as a “very attractive proposition” he said, but there was a “relatively small but extremely vocal group of people, very well-heeled with access to legal expertise, who were strongly opposed to this.”
He told MPs that if this provision had been available, campaigners would have sought to designate the park as an Asset of Community Value. “That is the risk: people will try to abuse these provisions in order to stop developments that they regard as undesirable.”, he added.
One upset NOGOE member, wishing to remain anonymous, has since written to the MP:
“I need to point out that NOGOE comprises a great social mix of concerned people of widely differing ages,income and professional status which includes lawyers and some well-connected high-profile professionals but the membership is far wider and inclusive than you seem to believe and I think you should apologise for casting incorrect aspersions on these well-intended people in your constituency”
I wonder if Mr Raynsford’s close connections to the construction industry have anything to do with his position on this issue and the amendment to the bill that he proposed. It’s very easy to see how the amendment, if turned into law, would benefit developers.
Could be an interesting case of class-guilt. Raynsford: Repton School (boarding fees currently £27,000/year) and Cambridge University (Sydney Sussex). Receives (from consultancies in construction) a six-figure salary on top of his MP’s salary and, according to the Daily Telegraph 27.6.2009 “Mr Raynsford’s paycheck is the biggest uncovered in this newspaper’s survey of MPs’ outside earnings, ahead of their disclosure by Parliament next mouth.”
Is our incredibly well-heeled “Labour” MP projecting his bad feelings about his wealth onto anyone else who earns a lot?
My God, Raynsford actually said or did something in Parliament? A mistrake surely? Nick, get back to planting trees, it suits you so much more.
It is reasonable to draw two conclusions from Nick Raynsford’s statement:
i) he thinks that well-heeled locals should not campaign for the benefit of a community unless they represent a majority opinion; and
ii) that Greenwich Park does not have Community Value.
As to the 2012 Olympics , hosting other events might bring some benefits to Greenwich Borough as a whole, but staging elitist equestrian events in Greenwich Park would deprive an urban community of their only convenient open space for at least a month in the summer. Moreover there is acknowledged, and already evident, potential for damage – some permanent, some needing years to repair – to this renowned World Heritage Site.
I’m not really sure that the non-well heeled members of NOGOE will be too upset at the allegation that they are well heeled.
I really don’t think that there is any suggestion that the Park holds no community value, merely that we can lend it to a wider global community for a month or so.
Finally I think its fair to say there is a POTENTIAL for damage without layering on too many adjectives to pretend that this potential is an actuality.
Our beloved local Labour MP Nick , or should we use his real name , Wyvill Richard Nicholl Raynsford , education Repton and Cambridge . Whilst acting as MP he was also director of a company called Rockpools People and Performance LTD.This company was a recruitment company and recruited staff for the ODAand LOCOG.It also recruited the Chief Executive of the Supreme Court.We should congratulate the directors of this company for their outstanding sales growth .
This company has a number of share holders in particular it has one shareholder that owns 85%.This share holder is called Pinnacle Regeneration Group LTD and Pinnacle has 8 shareholders who are:
Epic Investments LLP 14%
The Equity Partnership PLC 12.5% (Isle of Man)
Savilles Finance Holding PLC 12%
Smith & Willaimson Trustees Jersey LTD 9.5%
UK Pacific Management LTD 11%
UK Pacific Partners LTD 40%
2 Others 6.5%
Question who are all these people? and what does the Isle of Man and Jersey have to do with recruitment for the Olympics?
We await “Wyvill’s” answer.
Darren, when you lend – say – a CD to someone, you expect to get it back undamaged, don’t you? You’d be angry if it was returned to you in a worse condition than it was when you lent it. You’ve just bought into the dishonest, self-serving c**p promulgated by Lord Coe.
In Greenwich Park, LOCOG have already destroyed rare habitat and protected species, they’ve poured agri-chemicals into the ground that have never before been used outside a golf course or sports field, and in the new planning application they want to damage yet more trees including veteran trees. Until March 2010, Greenwich Park had all the protection of a Conservation Area. Last March, Greenwich Labour councillors – to their eternal shame – threw that away.
Labour can’t be bothered to hold LOCOG to the planning condition about reinstating the Park, there is no money in escrow to pay for it which means it will not happen.
Raynsford is marching to the sound of his own drum (paid for by megacorp). Even Greenwich Council’s public consultationl found that 93 per cent of “neighbours” to the Park objected to the plans to use it for the 2012 equestrian events. Furthermore, as Raynsford well knows, the Park is not used only by local residents. People travel from all over east and south London to Greenwich to play football and socialise in the Park. NOGOE activists know this because we have met thousands of them, and 13,500 of them signed the NOGOE petition – that’s more than all the amenity society memberships put together.
Indigo, I would indeed expect my CD back in full working order. What I wouldn’t do is moan about the potential damage to the CD before I’d even handed it over.
Lets all save our energies until next Autumn and then should the park (that I love just as much as you) be irreprably damaged then we can all beat our chests and then you can sing me a heaty song about how you told me so!
Darren – do try to keep up – the Park has already been badly damaged. Serious harm, much of it irreparable, to this community asset and priceless public amenity has already happened.
Pity some of these rich people in Nogoe don’t put up some money for a lawyer to see the laws and rules created when Greenwich park was opened to the public in 1830.
Greenwich council had no right to give planning permission for these events
And it is about time that Greenwich council stopped shuving their Greenwich Time biased so called ‘newspaper through my letter box
I phoned the Editor of this local rag and he was rude. Only five people turned up to demonstrate he informed me. I told him that I have spoken to hundreds of people who are disgusted that our lovely Greenwich Park has been ripped up for this two week fiasco Regards John Dedman PS A good lawyer could have it stopped even now
I think the event being in the area is a benefit, as the area as had little sporting events and this is an oppotunity for Greenwich. Plus, with the event being there it will help local business and also encorouge young people to get interested in sport, like horse riding.