Chislehurst Recreation Ground: The Council responds

In its press release of 17th June 2013, in respect to the works being carried out at Chislehurst Recreation Ground, Bromley Council stated the "...improvement works mean that during the next few months the main grass area at the recreation ground will be inaccessible whilst works are carried out and the re-seeded grass establishes."

Following our report last month we approached the Council to ask when we could expect the pitches to be back in use.

We have today received a response. A Council "spokesperson" said, “There are no delays - it was always envisaged that the pitch would be out of action for the best part of a year which is why FC Elmstead are not playing their matches at the Rec at the moment.  Leaving the issue of the glass aside for the moment, the grass was dug up so that new drainage could be laid and this uncovered the glass but it could have simply uncovered stones as we expected, because of the depth of the excavation works.  The next routine step was to sward clean the area and there were various processes to remove the glass and stone, part of which used a stone burier but we would still expect to do this process again after seeding and when the grass had established properly as we would expect further materials to come to the surface, particularly while the root mass had not formed a barrier in the soil.

Stone and glass will be removed before further re-seeding will take place, with sand then being used to create a top quality playing surface.  Interested residents should be assured that all the glass will be removed before the pitch is finally open for use and I would ask residents too to spread the word, that the area is fenced off for good reasons, to help the grass establish but there are also safety considerations too and we would ask everyone to respect the fact that this area is off limits.”  

Whilst we here at Chislehurst Village News would echo the Council spokesperson's comments with regard to keeping off the fenced-off area it is not the glass that is present at the moment that is the issue. It's little Johnny sliding on his knees to celebrate the first goal of 2014 and instead of getting mud down his legs gets a nasty gash from a 19th century shard of glass. Anyway, you read it here first; "all the glass will be removed before the pitch is finally open".

In the meatime, what started with a "few months" is now "the best part of a year". So the next football games to be played on the Rec will probably be - cricket!
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