Green Flag Award 2015/2016

Name of Site – Millwall Park

Managing Organisation – L B of Tower Hamlets

Bandscores

Desk Assessment / 0-9 / 10-14 / 15-19 / 20-24 / 25-30
Field Assessment / 20-29 / 30-39 / 40-44 / 45-49 / 50-54 / 55-59 / 60-64 / 65-70
Overall
score / 30-44 / 45-54 / 55-59 / 60-65 / 66-69 / 70-74 / 75-79 / 80+

Status –Pass

Overall band score–66-69

Desk Assessment Feedback (Management Plan and supporting documentation)
Band score – 20-24
Criteria / Strengths / Recommendations
Presentation / Well organised and comprehensive. / Edit and update throughout, at least every year prior to submitting it to Green Flag.
Health, Safety & Security / Uniformed staff presence. Rapid report system in place. New Byelaws in force 2013. Monitored CCTV. Good lighting in park’
Chicane gates at entrances to deter motorcycling in the park.
Good dog control measures. / Consider designating dog free, dogs on leads and dog exercise areas within the park.
Maintenance of equipment, buildings
& landscape / Regular inspections made.
There is a commitment to maintaining and improving standards in the park and to safety and security. / The park’s main focus is sports pitch provision. It is important that sports provision is linked directly to local demand. As this may change over time, it should be kept under review.
Litter, cleanliness, vandalism / Good dog waste policy. Litter targets set, these are monitored by an independent local community group. Good graffiti control policy. / The management plan reports a problem with motorbikes and burnt out cars. Access points should be reviewed.
Environmental Sustainability / Good policies. Attention is given to all of the main topic areas. Pesticide use restricted.
The Borough has a peat free policy. / Policies and implementation should be integrated with Mudchute park and farm, as this is essentially one large site, with two managing bodies.
Conservation of
heritage & nature / Good tree survey made. There is some wildlife survey information.
There are proposals to increase biodiversity. / Heritage has not been highlighted.
Community
Involvement / Sports teams use the park as well as informal sports use. There is a User Group that covers both Millwall Park and Island Gardens.
A local charity, the Dockland Settlement is also involved in park development. Local schools use the park, one retains ownership of part of the park, though management is in the hands of LBTH. / There are opportunities to link to Canary Wharf College and others as well as the adjoining schools. Inter-schools sports competitions, might help making such links.
Marketing Strategy / Events are held on site though details are few.
Publicity is managed in-house by LBTH. / Consider hosting unusual sporting events such as bicycle polo, street hockey, kabaddi, hurley, etc.
Overall management / The management of the site is competently organised. / There is limited forward planning evident in this management plan.
Additional comments
. The management plan is in need of updating and editing throughout. It shows little evidence of forward planning and no sense of vision for the future.
Field Assessment Feedback

Band score–45-49

Criteria / Strengths / Recommendations
A Welcoming Place / Main gates good, others fair. Signage reasonable. All entries open and with clear sight lines. There are good sightlines into and across the park. Most entries are flat, the one at a higher level has steps and a ramp. Good lighting. / Some further plantings of perennials and bulbs would enhance the minor entrances.
The railed area surrounding the statue needs to be reconsidered as it does not work aesthetically or practically.
The statue itself would be more appropriately sited in Island Gardens.
Healthy, Safe
and Secure / The park has a safe feel to it. It has a good level of use, is regularly visited by uniformed staff, has regular sports club use, school use, mother and child use, and an active user group which monitors the site and provides some services.. The site benefits from having Island Gardens DLR station there whose staff and transport police give an extra level of surveillance. There is monitored CCTV, and PIR lighting as well as lit paths across the park. / There are informal desire line paths to Mudchute from Ropemakers Walk. These should either be formalised as entries or sealed off. As they are they present a potential hazard and might be seen as a threat by some visitors.
Dog control measures should be reviewed. Some setts in the path near the NW entry need to be re-laid.
Clean and
Well Maintained / The whole park is free of litter and remarkably clear of dog mess. Shrub beds are cut back clear of paths and trees well maintained.
There is not a great deal of herbaceous or perennial planting in the park. What there is, is in reasonable condition with a few weeds.
Grass is well cut with long grass areas left in appropriate areas. Play equipment was all in useable condition. Benches were available for use, though some were covered in bird droppings due to their placement under trees.
The sports pitches were marked out and all were useable, (some in use during the judging), though affected by drought. The Bowling Green was very well maintained. / Some gapping up and weed removal would improve the shrub beds and other plantings.
Re-siting some benches would make them more useable.
One Japanese Knotweed plant seen near the statue should be dug out and disposed of safely.
Sustainability / LED lighting is replacing standard light fittings giving better lighting and saving energy. No pesticides are used in the park, except on the bowling green and this only as required. Pesticides are only used in LBTH for persistent weeds. / There are possibilities of using solar panels to generate electricity either on the viaduct top or elsewhere.
Conservation
and Heritage / There is an interpretation board at the NW entrance explaining the significance of Ropemakers Walk and the historic origin of Millwall Football Club on the site of the current park. The park’s main heritage value is its unbroken history of being open space in a heavily built up area of London.
The preserved brick railway viaduct is an important piece of the area’s history and the proposals to put the arches into use as sports facilities and a café is to be commended.
Long grass areas are left for wildlife value and visual interest. / As most of the park is covered with close cut sports turf, the opportunities for biodiversity enhancement are not great, but several species of birds were observed in the park and these could be encouraged by installing bird boxes as well as perhaps bird baths and feeders in the Stay and Play grounds.
Community
Involvement / The User group is a very active body who have obtained funds to convert four of the viaduct arches into a café an interpretation centre. They also are active in running activities for children.
Sports clubs which use the park, particularly the rugby club, play an active role in promoting the park and helping to develop it.
The events programme is not extensive, but events are well attended and informal use of the park is clearly good.
The park enjoys a good relationship with the DLR who work closely with the park staff team and user group. / The user group represents both Island Gardens and Millwall Park, which is a natural pairing as the two parks offer complementary, services to the community. Mudchute, adjoining the northern edge of Millwall Park offers a different range of experiences to the community. The three areas should work together to benefit the local community to the greatest extent and most efficient use of resources. The user group has a key role here.
Marketing / Some events are held at the park, sports events, fun and play days and an Oktoberfest, which brings in a useful sum of money, though is unpopular with some local residents
Events are promoted through posters in noticeboards and through the Council’s newspaper and website.
A factor which limits long stays in the park is the lack of accessible toilets, those in the changing rooms being usually locked. The proposal to open a café with toilets, would solve this problem. / Marketing is the weakest area of the Park’s operations. The lack of it does not limit the park’s local appeal, but the limited events programme and poor publicity means that a wider audience is not reached. User and non-user surveys should be continued.
Management / The management of the park is as good as resources permit.
The park benefits from the good relationship between the parks team and Veolia, who have the cleansing contract for the whole borough as well as with the user group, local schools and sports users all of which display a sense of ownership of the park’ / If more events could be held to raise revenue, improvements could be funded.
Additional Comments
There is a real sense of community ownership of Millwall Park and real energy in the User Group. When the café is open it will make a great difference to park use. The cooperative relationship between the Green Team, running the park contract,Veolia, responsible for the cleansing and the User Group is particularly impressive and is of great benefit to the effective running of the park. The judges were impressed with the level of commitment shown by parks staff, the user group representatives and the sports representatives. The good relationship between the park and the DLR station staff is also to be applauded.
The park is remarkablywell cared for given the fact that the Green Team has only 18 full time staff to run the entire Borough’s green spaces. The cleanliness of the site is the result of Veolia’s effective contract work. The fact that they have an employee who works full time in the park and Island Gardens is the most important factor here.
The park does need a rethink in terms of events and the marketing of them; this large open space could host a large number of sizeable events and through them raise sums of money to finance improvements. Smaller events aimed at the local community would also help to increase the support for the park.
The judges take the view that although the park has significant problems, mostly due to the level of resourcing, the commitment of all parties to improvement will result in a good future. However it has to be stressed that the park achieved the Green Flag Award at the lowest score and any decline would mean the loss of the Award next time

GFA Feedback 2014 J/Operations/Green Flag/GFA Judging/Score sheets/2015

Issue 1Jan 2014