Vital resource under threat
Clapton Park Play Project | 17.07.2002 23:11
Below is a letter written by concerned people who run a project in Hackney, which provides an area for children to play and enables the parents to leave their kids there and seek work…guess what the council are removing funding.
We understand the council is in financial arrears, as we have read the newspapers and read flyers in relation to Hackney assets for sale. Also the media coverage outside Hackney has painted a very bad picture of the past defrauding of council money…So who suffers, well the poor of course, the ordinary tenants on the priority estates, the majority being the minority groups and one parent families of course…which we cater for 90%.
We have now received another 90 days notice with promises of possible funding from Association of London Government. We have never heard of this group and we never got a letter dated 28th June 2002 setting out the principles of the transfer and how it will operate either. SO PLEASE DO SEND US ONE BY RETURN…SO WE CAN READ AND UNDERSTAND THE FUTURE.
We the management Committee have seen the suffering the above project has gone through, especially the staff who have not known how long their job will last, nor whether to apply for another job etc. With 40 children going down to 20, the project has already been reduced by half, this was because there was not enough workers due to the cuts last year. WE are responsible for staff and their well-being. We cannot take on any more staff due to cuts and not knowing how long the project will run. Our staff are continually under threat of being out of a job, so redundancy money has to be forthcoming or we face being taken to court. We the parent Management Committee and our staff want to keep the project running as we all know how valuable it is to the community.
Instead we have to work on a four monthly basis or the present 90 DAYS NOTICE, which we had to sign by 10th July having received it on the 5th. This had to be done in order to receive a further three months funding, so we had no choice did we? OUR BOOKS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AUDITED AND BALANCED, this is really disgusting. If, and we say if, this Association of London Government takes over this project, then we would like a new worker please and minimum security of 1 to 3 years contract for staff.
Our project is urgently needed by the poorer people, in Kings Ward and by one parent families that are always picked out as getting pregnant on purpose to live off the tax payer on purpose etc…They were encouraged to go to the college to better themselves to get off the welfare money…So our project was set up after nine years of meetings and this building refurbished after it had been burnt out by the youth in protest of not having anywhere to go after school. We asked for £54,000 a year to run this project, ONE RICH MAN’S SALARY.
Parents here feel that money talks and welfare walks as usual. As for the 2020 vision, it was considered that children and youth needs should be top of the list, not bottom. Under 16’s don’t get a say, they need an adult to speak on their behalf, so it is easy to pick on them and cut their services. Adults cannot always speak on their behalf and be heard as the power isn’t there, is it?
Who will look after the children Grandparents? If the project gets 90 days notice, so will the grandparents then. Our project offers integration, friends to play with in a safe environment, trained skilled staff (police checked). So we do hope the Association of London Government are going to contact us soon and not at the last moment. Yes it is a worry for us as we are on the front line. We need some answers as we are parents living here, supporting this project.
For letters of support please write to:
Lower Community Hall, Nye Bevan Estate
Overbury Street
Clapton, London
E5 0AW
Tel 0208 985 3470
We have now received another 90 days notice with promises of possible funding from Association of London Government. We have never heard of this group and we never got a letter dated 28th June 2002 setting out the principles of the transfer and how it will operate either. SO PLEASE DO SEND US ONE BY RETURN…SO WE CAN READ AND UNDERSTAND THE FUTURE.
We the management Committee have seen the suffering the above project has gone through, especially the staff who have not known how long their job will last, nor whether to apply for another job etc. With 40 children going down to 20, the project has already been reduced by half, this was because there was not enough workers due to the cuts last year. WE are responsible for staff and their well-being. We cannot take on any more staff due to cuts and not knowing how long the project will run. Our staff are continually under threat of being out of a job, so redundancy money has to be forthcoming or we face being taken to court. We the parent Management Committee and our staff want to keep the project running as we all know how valuable it is to the community.
Instead we have to work on a four monthly basis or the present 90 DAYS NOTICE, which we had to sign by 10th July having received it on the 5th. This had to be done in order to receive a further three months funding, so we had no choice did we? OUR BOOKS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AUDITED AND BALANCED, this is really disgusting. If, and we say if, this Association of London Government takes over this project, then we would like a new worker please and minimum security of 1 to 3 years contract for staff.
Our project is urgently needed by the poorer people, in Kings Ward and by one parent families that are always picked out as getting pregnant on purpose to live off the tax payer on purpose etc…They were encouraged to go to the college to better themselves to get off the welfare money…So our project was set up after nine years of meetings and this building refurbished after it had been burnt out by the youth in protest of not having anywhere to go after school. We asked for £54,000 a year to run this project, ONE RICH MAN’S SALARY.
Parents here feel that money talks and welfare walks as usual. As for the 2020 vision, it was considered that children and youth needs should be top of the list, not bottom. Under 16’s don’t get a say, they need an adult to speak on their behalf, so it is easy to pick on them and cut their services. Adults cannot always speak on their behalf and be heard as the power isn’t there, is it?
Who will look after the children Grandparents? If the project gets 90 days notice, so will the grandparents then. Our project offers integration, friends to play with in a safe environment, trained skilled staff (police checked). So we do hope the Association of London Government are going to contact us soon and not at the last moment. Yes it is a worry for us as we are on the front line. We need some answers as we are parents living here, supporting this project.
For letters of support please write to:
Lower Community Hall, Nye Bevan Estate
Overbury Street
Clapton, London
E5 0AW
Tel 0208 985 3470
Clapton Park Play Project