A “Teddy Bears’ Picnic” peaceful protest against the Central 6 low traffic schemes will go ahead as planned at Victoria Park on Sunday, – despite concerns over a travellers encampment on the park.
Only last week the campaign group ‘Warrington Residents Opposition to the Central 6 Street Plan’ made a decision to change venues for their latest event due to a council request, with the Teddy Bears’ Protest Picnic clashing with the Warrington Mela, the group decided to change the location from Bank Park outside the Town Hall to Victoria Park with increased access to facilities for the family event.
However, when a group of travellers suddenly moved onto Victoria Park, with the council granting permission for it to remain due to health concerns, organisers feared it could impact on their event.
Spokesperson Rachael Harper said: “This left us in a very difficult position as a campaign group. We agreed to move from Bank Park because we wanted to show the council we are willing to work with them and also wanted the increased access to parking and toilets which would benefit our family event. However, when we heard there were travellers on the site we knew this would cause some concern for our attendees.
“Unfortunately, travellers have in the past got a rather bad reputation and less than hygienic living. I don’t have any personal experience regarding travellers, but I do they are protected under the Human Rights Act. So it’s not like the council can just kick them off a site without just cause. There is no denying we have a traveller issue in Warrington right now, as there are quite a lot of them choosing parks near children’s play areas, which of course is presenting significant problems.
“As soon as I heard there were travellers I got in contact with the council officer who originally requested we move the event. I sent them an email in the evening, and they rang me first thing the next morning to discuss the issue saying they understood why we had concerns, and they could meet me at the park to discuss them the next day.
“When we met the council officer explained to me that the five caravans on the site were all from one family. They are actually parked far away from the children’s play area and on the opposite side of the car park out of the way and they had been respectful of the park and its facilities. I did stress to him that though I appreciated what they were saying we had a lot of concerned members on this issue, and it wasn’t just my decision to make about whether the event would go ahead or not.
“To reassure us and help to facilitate our event the council officer did propose to us a few countermeasures which may help to ease concern. These included moving the event slightly within the park, having a cleaner on site for the toilets and having a council officer on site to reassure and direct people (not to participate or debate as they are not part of the central 6 street plan scheme). As a gesture of goodwill, the council even offered to get an ice cream van to the site for an hour for us so members can purchase ice cream.
Rachael added: “I’m satisfied that the council has done everything possible to ensure the event can go ahead on Sunday and I told the rest of the campaign team and members that personally, I wanted it to go ahead. A lot of people have put a lot of work into this event and families deserve a time and place to gather and oppose these plans.
“After putting it to the members, I’m delighted to confirm that the event will go ahead as planned and the weather looks to be amazing for us. We’ve got some great family activities such as No to 6 Bingo, 6 Wacky Races, a Skit, music, a raffle and a competition. We’ve also now got an ice cream Van!
“I want to thank the council officer for doing his best to elevate our concerns and supporting our right to protest. It looks set to be an amazing event with nearly 100 members registering to bring their families (and teddies) along.
“Some people have questioned if we’ll be taken seriously for doing a teddy bears’ protest picnic but I’m so passionate about giving children (and people in general) various opportunities to be part of democracy. If they don’t see it in action and don’t feel a part of it, then we’ll never get them engaged with politics on local or national changes. They’ll think it’s pointless and that they can’t change anything. The truth is we have, and we will, we just need to keep standing together to oppose these plans.”
