Let me start by saying that l know the guys from the city’s parks department do a great job – with ever-decreasing funds – but it’s a fact of life that more time and effort is going to go into somewhere like Parade Gardens than a recreational space further away from the main tourist trail.
Sydney Gardens is an historic, former Georgian Vauxhall that is full of mature trees currently crowned in autumnal glory.
You may know that an application for a major HLF grant is currently being prepared that would help invigorate the space and equip it for life as a contemporary park to be enjoyed by all.
That’s a convoluted way of saying that – however much money they throw at it – it won’t be restored to anything like the way it originally was because life and society has changed.
While the city waits for some good news about a grant the gardens continue to deteriorate.
The grass now gets cut by the mowing team whose machines go from park to park. I have noticed there is no great attention to detail in some places.
Here is where the mower has been and a lot of the grass seems to have escaped the knife.
They have got rid of the permanent ‘park keeper’ who kept an eye on things and gave the gardens the benefit of a ‘personal touch.’
The roof of the temple is weed bound and boundary walls are crumbling.
Maybe Bathonians should roll up their sleeves and take charge. Silly me – doesn’t that involve taking pride in our community?
A good article,but the last sentence is a bit sneery,in these days of rabid H&S & litigation it would be a very brave or foolish person who went ahead and corrected the the neglect that this Uni/tourist centric city council has presided over.We (the real residents) pay our ever increasing community charges whilst vast profits are made by an under charged Bath Uni & HMO landlords (not to mention London dwelling Air B&B owners) while all the services are stretched by the pressure created by an influx of temporary city dwellers.