Jaine Lunn wrote to Brent Council along the following lines:
The state of Edward VII Park ('King Eddies' to locals) is no longer a joke.
It is evident it is only going to get worse now the summer has kicked in. The level of anti-social behaviour is off the scale. We need some serious intervention now. Signs informing users of the by-laws in the park, no BBQ's, no fires, Single men exercising in the children's playground make families uneasy. Scooters, cars, and ice-cream vans driving around like it's normal. Drug dealing and drinking. We all have photographic evidence. Everyone knows why our only green open space municipal park is like this: lack of enforcement and shit maintenance by Veolia. Whoever signed the contract should be fired.
How dare the council have such contempt for residents who pay for public services via their Council Tax.
No doubt King Edward V11 and his wife Queen Alexander must be turning in the graves, after all this was bought by the council back in 1913 for approx £8,000 to compensate the residents for the loss of green space in Wembley NoPark when they commenced development for the Stadium and subsequent Empire Exhibition. The fact that Brent Council signed an agreement to protect the park with "Fields in Trust in 2012 as the plaque on Collins Lodge states and has won "Borough of Culture for 2020" makes a mockery of the whole thing unless you stop this now. I will make it my personal mission to embarrass the Council every opportunity I can find if this is not resolved asap.
Might I also add, all Brent parks had Green Flags awarded 10 years ago, now the fact that we are at no. 14 out of 20 on the 20 London Borough Park List, is shameful. The NHS state that parks and green open spaces save them millions of ££££££££££££s in benefit to general public. Cleaner Brent, Cleaner Air, you are having a laugh? Practice what you preach.
We have enough CIL money in Wembley to do the job, create legacy, and make us proud to "LOVE WHERE WE LIVE".