It was reported on 8 August that a group of volunteers who have been busy transforming a derelict space into a thriving garden space and park, had been told to leave the park after the Reform-led county council had threatened legal action against them. Hemp Garden Community Association (HGCA) were told to leave the park and take all their equipment with them with immediate effect. If they don’t the community group have been threatened with injunction proceedings along with an application for the council’s legal costs.
The organisation has cared for the park for nine years now, since 2017. Those in the community association say that they have spent thousands on the improvement of the park, which was formerly associated with antisocial behaviour, drug use and litter.
It has been further noted that “the group said volunteers had cleared rubbish and hazardous waste, repaired grassed areas, planted flowers, shrubs and trees, improved pathways, enhanced biodiversity and organised regular community work days all free of charge.”
HMCA become concerned about the council
The story first surfaced on 19 December last year when it was reported that the HGCA had filed a complaint against the council, having become concerned about the way that the council was treating volunteers and handling the renovation of the park.
Simpa Carter, the founder of the HGCA said that the final straw for the community association had been when the council failed to respond to the group’s follow-up enquiries after the council had viewed the derelict toilet block the previous month.
Carter commented at the time that “”it was the final failure of their procedures. They’ve not communicated with us. It has now been over a month and they’ve still not got back to us.”.
Legal action against the HMCA
It was also reported on 8 August that Durham County Council had fielded numerous objections about the unauthorised occupation of the council-owned site and the staging of various activities there. They also claimed that at no time had the group sought permission to do the work they have done.
Simpa Carter stated that thousands of hours have been put into transforming the park and that the park is now “a place that brings the community together and has become a source of local pride”. He stated: “After years of openly caring for Elvet Green, we were genuinely surprised that the first time we were asked to stop our work or remove our equipment was in a formal notice from the council’s solicitors. None of us ever imagined that caring for a public park would lead to the threat of legal action.”
An overreaction by Durham County Council?
Whilst it is possible to understand that Durham County Council are within their rights to say that this park is council owned and that they should be able to decide what happens to it, what the council is doing really does seem like a huge overreaction to what appears to be good community-spirited environmental work. It also seems clear that the HGCA has tried to work with the council.
It is also surely notable that the HGCA has been working on improving the park for nine years now, yet it is only in the last year or so, after Reform, which has a clear anti-environmental stance, took over County Durham Council that the legal threats and problems seem to have arisen.
Let us hope that the conflict can soon be settled in an amicable way that will allow the park to continue to flourish and the lives of those who use it it be enhanced.
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