Under Lambeth’s Culture 2020 proposals, the budget for the maintenance of the Borough’s open spaces will be cut of 50%. These proposals were consulted on earlier in the year and the council is still considering the responses they received. The standard of maintenance of Vauxhall Park and the amount of time allocated to the Veolia team visiting the park has been a cause of great concern for many years. The prospect of even the current standard of maintenance not being sustained is a very dark one. Lambeth have been encouraging local groups to take over the managment of their open spaces but the FOVP felt that this was beyond their capacity. Vauxhall One (the local Business Improvement District body) and Vauxhall City Farm have approached the FOVP to propose that Vauxhall Park is included in their plans to take over the maintenance of five open spaces. In the face of the alternative of a very, very basic maintenance regime by council operatives, we have expressed cautious interest in this proposal. Giles Semper, Executive Officer of Vauxhall One, will be addressing our next meeting in the upstairs room of the Wheatsheaf Hall (please let us know if you require access assistance). Please do come along to hear his presentation and to ask any questions that you might have