Vote now to 'Help a Hounslow Park'

The Mayor has launched the scheme to regenerate ten open spaces and Londoners are being given the chance to vote on which ones will get a £400,000 grant. 47 of London's parks, one of which is in Hounslow, have been selected as candidates for a cash boost to make them safer and more enjoyable.

The Mayor made a commitment that efficiency savings from the previous administration's publicity budget would be spent on improving the capital's green areas. The £6 million funding will transform ten open spaces across London over the next four years through grants of up to £400,000 each. As part of this the Mayor will also award a single grant of up to £2 million to one large park for a makeover. This grant will be decided by the Mayor rather than by public vote, with the advice of a panel of experts.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson said: 'I urge residents of Hounslow to use their vote so the most deserving parks in the capital benefit from ten hefty prizes. This investment will make the capital's open spaces cleaner, safer, greener and more enjoyable places for Londoners to use. Parks provide a free place for families to enjoy time out and often simple improvements such as better play areas and improved lighting can make a real difference in making parks much more attractive and safer for people to use.'

Cllr Adrian Lee, lead member for leisure and culture at the London Borough of Hounslow said, "This is excellent opportunity for the residents of Hounslow to get involved in a London-wide initiative and have a say in where the Mayor of London should be spending his budgets for parks. If you have a mobile phone, get texting. Your vote could be the one we need to win the grants".

Users of Crane Park will see the implementation of environmental improvements including signature river restoration works and the creation of a bridge to link the two boroughs within the park. New paths, bins and signage will also be introduced into the park. Furthermore the funding will contribute towards the funding of two new cross-borough roles of Park Development Officer and Park Ranger.

An investment of £400,000 into Redless park will enable Hounslow to achieve its aim of achieving Green Flag quality status for Redlees Park and re-establish the site as Isleworth's premier public park and a flagship open space for West London. The grant will be spent on improving the park's crumbling hard and soft landscape infrastructure (e.g. signage, benches, shrubberies, etc), restore some lost facilities (e.g. the public toilets) and provide some important and much-needed and beneficial new features, such as a trim trail and provisions for young people.

Londoners can vote to choose which parks get the £400,000 simply by logging on to www.london.gov.uk/parksvote, by text message or by postal vote. Voting closes on Friday 30th January 2009.

London boroughs have nominated almost 100 green spaces in their areas and 47 have now been shortlisted by a panel of experts and are open for Londoners to vote on. To make voting easier and to ensure the money is used on parks across London, the parks have been divided into five London sub-regions (North West, North, North East, South East and South West) with around ten parks per sub-region to vote on. The winners will be the two parks in each of the five London sub-regions, which get the most votes.

Ends

Notes to editors:

1. There are three ways in which votes can be registered:

Online - go to www.london.gov.uk/parksvote
Post - You can request a postal vote form by calling City Hall's Public Liaison Unit on 020 7983 4100.
Text - Text 'parks' and your postcode to short code 62967. This will automatically vote for the closest park to where the voter lives in their borough. Texts will cost 10p plus your standard network rate.

2. Voting will be open to all Londoners to participate in and they can only vote for one park in one London sub-region. This can be a park in their local area or one across town, there are no restrictions as to what gets their vote.

3. Organisations on the expert panel advising the Mayor on which park should receive the £2million grant are the Greater London Authority, London Development Agency, Groundwork London, CABEspace, Natural England, London Parks & Green Spaces Forum.

4 Once the improvements have been made to the winning parks, these will be maintained by the borough as part of the funding agreement.

5. The Mayor made a commitment that efficiency savings from the previous administration's publicity budget would be spent on improving the capital's green areas. Transport for London, Greater London Authority and London Development Agency is contributing to the parks programme through these efficiency savings.

6. The following parks are up for the public vote,
North West sub region: Brent River Park (Brent), Southall Manor House Grounds ( Ealing), Brent River Park ( Ealing), South Park (Hm'sth & Fulham) Hammersmith Park (Hm'sth & Fulham) Byron Recreation Ground (Harrow), Pinkwell Park (Hillingdon), Redlees Park (Hounslow) Little Wormwood Scrubs Park (Kensington & Chelsea)

South West sub region: Norbury Park with Thornton Heath (Croydon), Wandle Park (Croydon) King Edwards Park (Kingston) Kennington Park (Lambeth), Spring Gardens (Lambeth) Ravensbury Park (Merton), Crane Valley Park (Richmond/ Hounslow), Wandle valley with St Helier open spaces (Sutton), King Georges Park ( Wandsworth), Latchmere Recreation Ground ( Wandsworth)

North sub region: Coram's Fields ( Camden), Lincolns Inn Fields ( Camden), Dollis Valley Green Walk ( Barnet), Arnos Park ( Enfield), Broadley Street Gardens ( Westminster), Shoreditch Park ( Hackney), Barnard Park ( Islington), Elthorne Park ( Islington), Lordship Recreation Ground ( Haringey), Bunhill Fields ( City of London),

South East sub region: Penge Parks ( Bromley), Avery Hill Park ( Greenwich), Maryon Park ( Greenwich), Parish Wood Park ( Bexley), Dickens Square ( Southwark), Camberwell Green ( Southwark), Deptford Park ( Lewisham), Mayow Park ( Lewisham)

North East sub region: Abbey Green ( Barking and Dagenham), Mayesbrook Park ( Barking and Dagenham), Harrow Lodge Park ( Havering), Central Park (Havering), Greenway ( Newham), Fairlop Waters Country Park ( Redbridge), Goodmayes Park ( Redbridge), Bethnal Green (Tower Hamlets), Victoria Park (Tower Hamlets), Marsh Lane (Waltham Forest)

For media enquiries please call Nicola Dillon or Hilary Merrett in the Mayor's Press Office on 020 7983 4066/4755