Rangers Services - savage cuts
We were so anxious to get rid of the tram that I fear we may have ended up making a pact with the devil!This week the cuts to the Park Ranger service were agreed. One the main casualities of the excercise is Phil Belman the leading light of all the conservation work done in this borough for the last two decades.Below is part of the submission put to to the meeting by Nic Ferriday chairman of Brent River and Canal Society."Loss of Brent Lodge Brent Lodge is an invaluable base. The local community knows where it is, they can obtain information and they can meet the rangers. This would be lost if the centre were closed. The service would be me more remote and less responsive; not “more responsive” as claimed.The centre is also important as a base for ranger work. For example, the regular working parties at the Brent Meadow disused allotment and Hanwell Spring nature reserve, undertaken by volunteers of BRCS and London Wildlife Trust, use tools and are led by rangers from this centre. It would be far less efficient for rangers to have to drive from Southall or Acton to get to site in Hanwell for these working parties and for their everyday activities. Their work time (and therefore taxpayers’ money) would be wasted driving instead of being on site doing something useful. Cuts to ranger service The service has been cut and the process is continuing. There were until recently 24 ranger posts which were filled. This was cut to 20, and now only 16 are filled. We understand that the posts are not being advertised, so the cut is effectively now to 16. That is a 33% cut from 24.There also two Senior Ranger posts being cut. It is claimed this will not affect ‘front-line services’. This cannot be true. The existing senior rangers, with their small teams are often seen out on frontline work. They have led walks for the BRCS, addressed our AGM and have been seen pollarding willows with a chainsaw. We understand that there will also be cuts to the Contract Manager posts. This is likely to increase the incidence of contract failures, with adverse consequences for conservation. The claim “we are not reducing the level of experience or expertise ..” is manifestly incorrect. The reduction planned will get rid of by far the most experienced countryside manager and expert field biologist in the council. How will the council respond properly to the many planning applications that affect open spaces without this expertise?The attacks on the ranger service are an unworthy attempt to justify cuts. If there has been a failure of leadership and management as claimed, the answer is to improve the leadership and management. It is not to cut the staff.The claim that there are no management plans is also untrue. There are management plans for many areas including the Brent River Park. I have seen some of them and been invited to comment. There is no Biodiversity Action Plan, an omission that I have personally have regretted for many years. But that is a failure of higher management to prioritise it, not a failure of the rangers or senior rangers.ConclusionsWe urge the council to re-consider its decision to close Brent Lodge and Horsenden Hill as ranger bases and thereby maintain links and support for the local community.We also urge the council the restore the ranger force to a total of 24, equivalent to the 20 + 4 seniors, and fill the vacant posts forthwith.These actions will, coupled with effective management, go a long way to protecting and enhancing our open spaces for the benefits of borough’s 300,000 people and the benefit of wildlife and biodiversity."
Peter Wright ● 6930d39 Comments