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Five Aside Football Pitches in Finsbury Park
http://www.haringeyindependent.co.uk/news/4844894.Five_a_side_pitches_planned_for_Finsbury_Park/?ref=mr
Not sure I like the idea of additions to the park which would include more floodlights and a pavilion housing changing rooms, an office and bar or social club
What will the guys with thier model radio racing cars do ?
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But 80 more parking spaces for cars and bikes? That's really nuts. That side of the park is too full of cars as it is, and if people are coming to play football, surely they're athletic enough to get the tube/bus and then walk? You'd need to find a way to encourage people to do that, to avoid people driving anyway and parking in nearby streets - maybe a price difference?
Agree with hellojo though, why do users of a local facility need so much parking? Endymion's a snarlup at the best of times without the extra traffic this will bring. There's a bike park at the station, and a massive rail and tube and bus hub right there.
And the noise is a major nuisance with 5-s complexes.
And agree, does this area *really* need more football?! Hmm, council site says "If the tarmac area was converted, the pitches could also be used for other sports such as netball and tag rugby." They can ALREADY be used for netball and tag rugby.
I suppose it's a revenue stream for the council which might be driving this. I wonder who initially proposed this?
It's a weird one, but by handing it over to a private company, it might make money for the council. The 'trust system' and pay-point at the new tennis courts hasn't exactly worked.
Think about the local something or other!!, its going to further light polute the sky so I won't be able to see 'Inserst funny planet name here'
What are we going to do?
Does anyone want to start a regular match? there must be 10 five-a-siders on this forum..
I think the idea of doing up the area, perhaps with some five-a-side pitches, is excellent, but why hand it over to a private company?
I think it should be kept as a fully public asset, not turned into a commercial operation.
Part of this difficulty is due to other sports becoming popular,e.g basketball, which uses the same space and therefore available time slots are reduced. We used to play at the Sobell before their arcane booking system drove us away - couldn't get a regular slot unless it was before 4pm,[?!] [or you were a friend of someone on front desk - we had to book in person and only half-hour per member - so two members had to queue at 8am and hope they could get back-to-back slots!! After that a half-hour drive seemed a doddle. The reason you take a car is because you carry quite a lot of stuff, you need to lock valuables away and most importantly you're knackered afterwards and want to drive home - 80 spaces is too many though about a third of our number drive, some cycle, others walk. [ they probably plan to charge for parking so 80 = more £'s]
I've lived in this area for years and have always played 5-a-side but have to travel to Enfield and Battersea Park to get a pitch. Sounds like there are other people also want to play but find it hard to get a game anywhere nearby.
I pass that area of the park twice a day and there are rarely more than a few people on there, often doing stuff they could do just as well elsewhere in the park.
But with these pitches, you're giving up to 100 people per hour the opportunity to enjoy playing sport - isn't that the sort of this councils are supposed to do? - I bet it would be really popular too. And if they raise some revenue along the way then all the better.
And I understand nobody should be subjected to shouts of 'Time, Mickey, Time' every night but these pitches are a little way away from any residential property aren't they?
All that happens when a 5-a-side centre is put down is that people from right around London come and use the 5-a-side pitches, and everyone who was there before squeezes onto somewhere else which is still free.
If they opened up the CH reservoir as a park with no lights, changing facilities or anything else then maybe giving up some of FP for 5-a-side pitches might be OK.
And yes, there's probably another thread somewhere on the CH reservoir but I really can't be arsed to go find it and put a link in ...
1 You like playing 5-a-side football
2 You've got some money to spare
3 You like driving to your sports activities
4 You don't care about a free, public space where all sorts of activities go on like teaching kids to ride bikes, remote controlled cars, basketball, exercise classes etc etc being turned into a commercial operation available only to those who can pay
5 You don't mind loads more cars driving in and out of Finsbury Park
Keep Finsbury Park free!
2) I have some money to spare
3) I don't Drive, but I love polution
4) I hate free public spaces, they're always full of stupid kids falling off bikes, and tossers driving remote control cars (badly) and people murdering an already crap American sport.
5) The only thing missing from Finsbury Park is a shit load of Cars drining in and, indeed, out.
Also, on the money issue, it's usually about £3 per person to play 5-a-side which really doesn't exclude anyone.
I've been past that area three times this week and a grand total of zero people have been using it. Anyway, it's not like they're selling off the whole park, there would be loads and loads of free space still...
I think they should retain a couple of basketball and maybe a volleyball court but I don't know... it just feels like people object to anything new... I don't understand how anyone could be nostalgic for that big area of empty tarmac in an otherwise lovely park.