Greens and Labour trade blows over London Fields paddling pool

A row has broken out between Hackney’s Green administration and the Labour opposition over the future of the London Fields paddling pool, with the cabinet member responsible accusing Labour of “point-scoring over delivery” on a site that has been closed since February 2020.

Labour has thrown its weight behind the residents’ campaign to reopen the pool, which was shut for major works by the then Labour-run council weeks before the first Covid lockdown and never brought back into use.

London Fields councillor Anntoinette Bramble, who leads the Labour group and served as deputy mayor under the previous administration, said it was “disappointing to hear no firm commitment to re-opening the London Fields paddling pool” when the campaigners’ petition was heard by cabinet on 20 July.

“The Green Party promised Hackney residents they would deliver change but what is needed is action not just kind platitudes and more listening exercises,” she said. “We will continue to press for action in this situation.”

‘Three administrations’

Cllr Jacob Cable, the Green cabinet member for climate, clean air, energy and transport, responded by pointing to the pool’s history under Labour.

“It’s quite fascinating, given Cllr Bramble’s intervention, you’d be forgiven for mistaking the Green administration of Hackney for being in power the vast majority of the borough’s existence,” he told the Citizen.

“At the local elections, Hackney roundly rejected the last administration’s approach that remaining councillors still appear to perpetuate – a lack of transparency, inaction and a thirst for point-scoring over delivery.

“We’ve picked up a challenging legacy from them, including a strained budget that requires a new approach. This pool space sat closed and derelict across three administrations, in two of which Cllr Bramble sat on the cabinet.

“In just five per cent of time elapsed in our first term, we’ve initiated a way forward with officers and the user group. I think your readers can decide who’s taking action here.”

The council’s press office said Cllr Cable met representatives of the London Fields User Group on 27 July, that a working group was agreed at that meeting, and that officers are working through options to bring the space into use “over the coming months”, with any costs met from within the current budget.

‘I am entitled to advocate’

Asked what was done to reopen the pool during her time in cabinet, Cllr Bramble said maintaining London Fields as a Green Flag park had been her priority, and that she had asked for the paddling pool to be reopened while ensuring the lido next door stayed open.

She said she was surprised by Cllr Cable’s tone, adding: “I am entitled to represent the views of my residents and the local community and advocate on their behalf.”

She also rejected his characterisation of the previous administration’s record at the park, citing a wildflower meadow delivered with residents, solar panels and changing rooms at the lido, as well as the lido itself, refurbished public toilets, and work on the multi-use games area. A consultation had also been carried out on upgrading the playground at the north end of the park, she said.

Cllr Bramble welcomed the July meeting but said it came only after she had made her public statement, and that she had asked for residents to meet Cllr Cable in the first instance.

“I would like to think that as a result of my pressure as the ward councillor and that of the residents, the new administration has been pushed to try and find a solution,” she said.

Asked where the money for a reopening would come from, she said: “I’m no longer responsible for budgets as the new administration is aware.”

900 signatures

The paddling pool opened in 1978 and was popular with families as a free alternative to the lido. When the council closed it in February 2020, it announced plans to integrate the site with a new training pool, but the scheme never materialised.

A petition launched in March by the London Fields User Group gathered more than 900 signatures, and campaigners staged a demonstration outside the Town Hall before the cabinet hearing.

Supporters, including consultant psychiatrist Kate Highton, argued that reopening the pool would amount to a public health intervention for families living in flats without gardens.

At that meeting, Cllr Cable promised to unlock the space “immediately” and to set up a working group to draw up a financially sustainable plan for reopening.

The campaign comes weeks after the Mayor of London published the Heat Ready London plan, which includes expanding safe access to blue spaces as one of five goals for adapting the capital to more frequent and severe heatwaves.