Making more of Roehampton Fields

When I was out and about talking to residents of the Dover House estate recently, one of the things that kept coming up from families with small kids was the lack of play facilities in the area.

They've got a point: there is not a single children's play area anywhere on the Dover House estate. And this despite there being plenty of open space in the local area.

The largest of these open spaces happens to be the huge Roehampton Playing Fields at the top of Dover House Road just before you reach Putney Heath. "Why can't a small section of this space be turned into a children's play area?" I was asked.

And so in turn, I asked the council. This is the response I got:

"The site has not at any time, neither during the Council?s tenure nor during the previous ILEA tenure, been a publicly accessible open space. That being so there are no plans to extend use of the facility by local residents, however we are aware of local concerns at the lack of play facilities for younger children and officers are considering the potential to provide some appropriate form of play facility on the Pleasance open space."

Well, secure play facilities for young children and families on the Pleasance, at the other end of the Dover House estate near St Margaret's Church is something that should be looked at. But that doesn't really explain why they can't look at providing something at Roehampton Fields - in fact the only reason the council has come up with is that they've never been used for this purpose.

I don't think that's good enough. With some imagination, young families' play facilities could be incorporated into the playing fields without impinging one foot onto the games pitches and without compromising the overall security of the fields.

If you agree, please sign my petition. Click here.