This week, we report on the BBQ area in Burgess Park, and how the community is vying for answers on whether it will reopen.
Brought in by Southwark Council in 2011, it was a unique and welcome addition to an area that had for so long felt lost.
As Santiago Peluffo, co-director of Latin Elephant, said: “For many, Burgess Park is an extension of their doorstep” – given that most of the residents don’t have gardens.
Barbecuing in England is at best a tradition exclusive to summer – and even then you can rarely expect more than a charred sausage. But for many of the cultures represented in the area, it is a way of life.
So it’s not a surprise that people feel that when they lost the BBQ space when it closed in 2020, they felt like they lost a part of their culture too.
Following the pandemic, when the rules around gatherings slipped away, and we returned to a more familiar lifestyle, the community waited for the green light on barbecuing at Burgess, but it never came.
The council seemed to communicate for a while, by holding regular consultations with those involved about how to reopen the space – but more recently conversations have stalled.
From what we got from talking to people, the barbecuing area was not without its issues. Even advocates of the space agree that some changes would have to be made – regarding litter and lack of order for instance.
If it’s a question of money, that is not a bad excuse; it’s no secret that local authorities are scraping together funds as it is. But given the lack of reasons to be cheerful at the moment, bringing back something that clearly brings more joy than not, seems a deserved win for the communities who so often get ignored.
In this case, the people who used the space are trying to work with the system to ensure it is brought back in a way that works for everyone involved. So shouldn’t the council meet them halfway?
There is also the question of whether the pandemic was used, as some people will argue with Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, as a ‘land grab’ by authorities – to effect some changes that otherwise would have been contested.
It’s a contentious point of view – but with the council keeping quiet over issues like this one, it will only serve to add fuel to that particular fire… or BBQ.
