A park has been left “abandoned”, as the kids playground becomes covered in “green slime” when it floods.
Green Lane Recreation Ground, in New Malden, south London, is owned by Kingston Council and maintained by contractors Glendale. Tony Cooper, 68, from Friends of Green Lane Recreation Ground, said he feels the park is considered last as other green spaces are receiving major updates. The council has recently built a new path and resurfaced another in the park, however, residents are worried about the children’s playground.
Mr Cooper has said that the playground is prone to floods because of it’s location and, after flooding, the playground is covered in “greem slime” of of algae, fungi and moss, adding the ground is also starting to break up. According to Mr Cooper, the area around the playground is overgrown, the roundabout broken and the play equipment is muddy and not maintained.
Children's playground unusable as it's covered in green slime (MyLondon/Charlotte Lillywhite)He said: "It's falling into a state of disrepair and nobody seems to bother about doing anything about it." Mr Cooper who previously worked for Hounslow and Merton councils raised concerns about a lack of maintenance of the area with overgrown plants covering paths and benches graffiti on the entrance and paths and the gates not closing, MyLondon reports.
He said: "Sometimes you find it very depressing coming in here, you just see everything overgrowing." Despite its name, the longtime New Malden resident also described there being no opportunities for recreation in the park. Mr Cooper said: "I’m all for biodiversity and encouraging wildlife, but there’s so much of it in here that’s just left and the interesting thing, this is called Green Lane Recreation Ground, when I first started coming here, must be 30 years ago... there used to be two football pitches on a Sunday and a fully-maintained cricket square that was in the middle... none of that happens anymore."
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The signs are covered in graffiti in the playground (MyLondon/Charlotte Lillywhite)Mr Cooper said he could understand councils having limited resources but added the park looked abandoned “always seem to come out at the bottom of the pile if there’s improvements being done in the parks." A Kingston Council spokesperson said: "As part of our ongoing work to improve and enhance our green spaces, we're investing £1.3million in our borough's parks which includes Green Lane Recreation Ground.
Kingston council said they are committed to maximise the wellbeing of our residents by providing better green spaces (MyLondon/Charlotte Lillywhite)We have undertaken some important improvements at the park over the last few months, these include a new pathway to improve access and refurbishing an existing path. We are aware that there is always more that can be done and more improvements around drainage and equipment are planned for the coming months.
These are due to be completed by the end of March 2025. We are committed to maximise the wellbeing of our residents by providing better green spaces to support fulfilled lives." Glendale has been contacted for comment.
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