Gunnersbury Park Bowls Club Petition Launched
Bid to make CIC allow access to the green for maintenance
The lawn last autumn after volunteers cleared it. Picture: Mark Kehoe
March 12, 2021
A petition has been set up in a bit to get the Gunnersbury Park Community Interest Company (CIC) to reconsider its decision to refuse access for the Gunnersbury Park Bowls club to its bowling green.
The Bowls Club and volunteers from the wider community say they need to carry out urgent maintenance work. Without this work they claim the bowls green will rapidly deteriorate to a condition beyond repair and this will mean that the Planning Committee will be faced with a situation where bowls is no longer a viable use for the site of the bowls green.
The petitioners are requesting that all councillors, whether members of the Planning Committee or not, should seek to use their good offices to persuade the CIC to allow the Bowls Club access to the bowls green.
The CIC is responsible for the management of Gunnersbury Park on behalf of the joint owners, the London Boroughs of Hounslow and Ealing.
In April 2020 a planning application was refused for the conversion of the bowls clubhouse to a cafe/restaurant. In January 2021, a decision on a further, almost identical, planning application was deferred by Hounslow Planning Committee. This proposal would lead to the re-purposing of the bowls green as a mini-golf facility which would mean the end of bowls in Gunnersbury Park after 90 years.
In deferring their decision, the Planning Committee wished to have more time to consider all of the relevant facts, including the consideration of an alternative site for the mini-golf facility.
The Bowls Club says it is not opposed to the establishment of a mini-golf facility in the Park but not at the expense of the bowls green and the Bowls Club itself.
To sign the petition click here.
The CIC issued a statement saying, “We’re aware that a group identifying as the “Gunnersbury Park Bowls Club” is lobbying for access to the green to carry out maintenance to enable them to use the facility. This group is sponsoring a petition seeking public support for their position.
“However, the CIC terminated the licence of the former Gunnersbury Bowls club in early 2020 and there is no current arrangement between CIC and any club in respect to the bowls green or pavilion.
“Taking the decision to end the tenure of the former bowling club in early 2020 was the culmination of almost 2 years of discussions with the club. These discussion focused on the need to secure a commitment from that organisation that they would be able to maintain and repair both the green and pavilion, and that concerted efforts would be made to expand and diversify the membership of the club, which had enjoyed exclusive use of the green and pavilion.
“The management of the former club were unable to meet the requirements of the CIC, and so we reluctantly terminated their licence agreement and sought alternative uses, which could provide both a revenue for the upkeep of the park facilities and offer a broad range of the community an affordable and enjoyable leisure experience.
“The CIC is now committed to develop what is an underused and expensive-to-maintain facility as a modern, contemporary leisure facility focusing on a mini-golf offer in partnership with Putt in the Park, which has successful courses across London.
“Putt in the Park will provide a new, leisure offer to our park visitors, fantastic benefits for the local community – including free access to the course for schools and free community access to a refurbished pavilion, and a new café facility for all park users. It will also provide a steady income stream to help Gunnersbury survive and thrive, for our community now and into the future. Park visitors have also been invited to express their interest in Putt in the Park coming to Gunnersbury here.”
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