Will Running Clubs be running in rubbish?

Langdon hills country park is popular with runners, including hundreds-strong Phoenix Striders and Pitsea Running Club, and not to forget Thurrock Harriers and individual runners. Even top athletes have used the Country Park as a training ground - Eamonn Martin (last Brit to have won the London Marathon) and Danny Crates (Paralympic Gold Medalist) are examples. The access paths are very popular, being firm footing in all weather, but cross country runs are also common. The Echo said of the most recent Crown to Crown race: "A course record set by Jessica Judd when she was aged 16 was smashed in the Boxing Day Crown to Crown race.... In total, a record 309 runners finished the increasingly popular event." (read the full article at Echo News)

The fourth race of the Mid-Essex Cross Country league at Langdon Hills in 2013 (Dunmow Broadcast)

Thurrock Council have decided to leave the Country Park "unmanaged", with a number of Ranger posts to be removed. The impacts are manifold, but just focusing on the effects for recreation the story is dire. People could soon find the tracks of the Country Park are off limits. Pitsea Running Club regularly use the Country Park as a venue for training and for the "Crown to Crown" 5k races (see poster for their 2015 races). Thurrock Council have already stated they intend to have "no events" at the Country Park - presumably this includes events like the Crown to Crown races which attract huge crowds of participants and surely would require Country Park staff to be available for emergencies under the Council's duty of care.  Will runners want to use the Country Park in future anyway? Under the Council's proposals to leave Langdon Hills Country Park "unmanaged", encroaching shrubs, uncut grass and uncollected litter could well render the tracks and trails downright hazardous if not impossible to use.

Boxing day Crown to Crown 5k race at Langdon Hills Country Park, December 2014 (Echo News)

 Many users have also stated that overgrown paths and fields and lack of uniformed presence would deter them from using the 400 acres of Country Park due to feeling less safe. Antisocial behaviour is likely to increase dramatically with the sites being unmanaged, which will further deter the regular visitors. Simply put, as the quality of a green space starts to deteriorate the willingness of people to use that green space falls off dramatically. "While well managed parks and green spaces can encourage visitors, and enhance social inclusion and cohesion, poor quality spaces, scarred by the evidence of vandalism and neglect, dominated by single groups and anti-social behaviour, can be a blight on any community... When public space is not managed and maintained, it attracts crime and

anti-social behaviour", Value of Green Spaces Report (see full report). 

Many forms of recreation besides running will be significantly affected or cease altogether under the Council's plans. Examples include cycling (monthly bike rides with the Rangers and MS&G's annual mountain bike race), Horse Riding, Ramblers, Nordic Walking, informal games like football and rounders. Meanwhile the Council will leave themselves wide open to fly tipping, illegal encampments, criminal activity, and lawsuits from people who have been injured from poorly maintained infrastructure or dangerous trees which haven't been checked... All costing more taxpayer money than the simple expedient of maintaining adequate security and infrastructure. "If people are satisfied with local parks, they tend to be satisfied with their council", CABE Space (2010), Urban Green Nation: Building the Evidence Base.

Community Impacts

Langdon Hills Country Park (L.H.C.P.) is a vital local resource, the importance of which it is difficult to describe as it is valued by so many people in so many different ways. The Park is one of the largest assets Thurrock Council controls, consisting of 400 acres including ancient woodlands, SSSI wildflower meadows, and has an 'access for all' path and many miles of bridleway and cycle paths linking to the wider
countryside and living landscapes.

The park holds the Green Flag and Outdoor for Learning National Awards. Many of the events on the Park attract overwhelming demand, such as Santa In The Woods, tickets for which usually sell out within a few days of going on sale. The park also provides a wide range of national curriculum activities and other out of school activities.

The Park's spectacular bluebell woods featured in the winning entry in a national photography competition organised by the BBC programme Countryfile.

2013 Winning Photo (countryfile.com) - See article here.

Thurrock Council advertises L.H.C.P. on its web-site giving a high-level overview.
See:
https://www.thurrock.gov.uk/langdon-hills-country-park/overview

Surveys undertaken in Langdon Hills Country Parks have measured that there are in excess of 400,000 visitors to the parks in a single year!

Before we look at the potential consequences of the proposed changes we need to look at some of the many groups that benefit from using the Park:

• Walkers / Ramblers
• Dog Walkers / Dog Trainers
• Running Groups
• Cyclists
• Bird / Nature watchers
• Children in Play areas
• Photographers
• Re-enactment groups
• Horse riders
• Teachers and schoolchildren
• Orienteering groups
• Fitness groups
• Uniformed groups
• Families – picnics etc.
• Event organisers
• Disabled –  Westley Heights Access for All pathways

……. this list is far from comprehensive and in no particular order or priority.

Annual Mountain Bike Race at the Country Park, to be discontinued. See article on last year's race.

It must be emphasised that the exercise to analyse the Council proposals has been undertaken in a very short time-scale and a far greater number of issues will be identified once the general public and media are made aware and become involved. However, the points raised in the Action Group's Report are of huge significance, against Government and Thurrock Council’s own policies, with such horrendous impacts for the community that we cannot believe that Thurrock Council can proceed with the plans as currently understood.

It should also be noted that as conditions in the Parks deteriorate and the local community suffers, there will inevitably be pressure on other local authority services, for example:

• The Police will have to handle increases in local crimes such as vandalism, theft, burglary , muggings, squatters, disturbances of the peace etc. etc.
• The NHS – no doubt the Parks would become havens for drug-users, unmaintained / unsupervised areas resulting in more accidents, particularly for adventurous children. With uncut grasses there will be significant risk from hidden hazards such as broken glass and Adder bites. A  healthy adder population already exists in the Parks but currently performed grass maintenance minimises the risks.
• The Fire Services – particularly in summer months, the meadows in particular become severe fire risks. If the grasses / hay remains uncut and there is no Ranger presence there will undoubtedly be, if not deliberate arson, accidental fires from campers / people having outdoor barbeques

(extracts from Action Group Report, section 4.2 Health & Safety Implications and Risks.Click to view the full Report)