Artist’s impression of the revamped Barnard Park

• THE council’s decision to approve the Barnard Park redevelopment was a betrayal of ordinary people who use the park in favour of those who will enjoy a rise in the value of their houses from its publicly-funded gentrification.

It’s not just about fewer children now having access to playing football, or about a reduction in activity space for vulnerable youths – it’s about a free space that is there for anyone to use for anything at any time – a kick-about, learning to ride a bike or a gentle jog.

A rare public commons is being Disneyfied into something that planners and consultants believe “is good for us”, and supposedly benefits some mythical wider community they have never met.

I attended the council meeting, and my children use the football pitch. Hearing that access to the smaller football pitch “is a detail we will agree later” told me that the council really doesn’t “get” Barnard Park, or just doesn’t want to.

Free access has to be a fundamental, non-negotiable part of the redevelopment. Instead, the suspicion from this craven decision is that the promised bijou plastic pitch will be oversubscribed and access eventually rationed by paid use.

Labour has certainly learned Thatcher’s lesson – make the people pay for what they already own, and use public money to benefit the elite. Because Sport England vigorously opposes the plan, the decision will now go to the secretary of state. Whoever that may turn out to be, I hope they see through this appalling betrayal of true democracy.

MICHAEL COFFEY
Islington Green Party