Forum Message

Topic: Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Gunnersbury Park Festival Debacle
Posted by: Simon Hayes
Date/Time: 02/09/26 14:47:00

The issue with CICs is the opaqueness of their management structure and operations. Despite running public facilities there is very little in the way of scrutiny in how they go about things. This was something a friend of mine, along with other people, raised when the Gunnersbury model was first mooted years ago. Pretty much everything they said would happen has happened, with more to come.

While it’s fine to increase incomes for the park it has been at the expense of certain sectors who traditionally used it. For example , the bowls club was closed down in favour of a pricey mini golf facility. The underlying hope is that people simply forget about what went before.

Like a lot of parks the councils allowed Gunnersbury to decline rapidly. It was very well used at weekends for football matches but the facilities were Third World, if not worse. So much so that clubs simply voted with their feet and found venues elsewhere. Another income stream dried up.

Managed decline is a favourite tactic of local authorities, who usually have an ulterior motive involving repurposing facilities. It’s happened in Brentford where Hounslow allowed the Watermans centre to deteriorate and just ignored what was obvious to many, that investing and promoting the centre would improve patronage and create a buzz. Now there’s nothing there at all.

But then if you let idiots run things you get idiotic decisions.


Entire Thread
TopicDate PostedPosted By
Gunnersbury Park Festival Debacle14/05/26 12:36:00 Mark Evans
   Re:Gunnersbury Park Festival Debacle27/08/26 11:09:00 Colin Goodman
      Re:Re:Gunnersbury Park Festival Debacle27/08/26 12:19:00 Rosco White
      Re:Re:Gunnersbury Park Festival Debacle27/08/26 13:50:00 Susan Kelly
         Re:Re:Re:Gunnersbury Park Festival Debacle27/08/26 14:33:00 Mark Evans
            Re:Re:Re:Re:Gunnersbury Park Festival Debacle27/08/26 17:11:00 Rosco White
               Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Gunnersbury Park Festival Debacle01/09/26 11:25:00 Colin Goodman
               Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Gunnersbury Park Festival Debacle01/09/26 11:33:00 Mark Evans
                  Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Gunnersbury Park Festival Debacle01/09/26 15:42:00 Rosco White
                     Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Gunnersbury Park Festival Debacle02/09/26 12:52:00 Colin Goodman
                        Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Gunnersbury Park Festival Debacle02/09/26 14:47:00 Simon Hayes

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