#70: Parklife

 

Ducketts Common (a rather flattering shot)

Ducketts Common lies opposite Turnpike Lane tube station in north London. Calling it an ‘oasis’ or ‘green lung’ would be stretching it; the common is only 24,000 m² (smaller than most parks) and is bordered by the wide and noisy Green Lanes as it takes over from Wood Green High Road.

Park life

I’d always thought of it as a bit scrubby and barren, but jogging round it on a few occasions recently I found a surprising amount going on, and a revitalised space for which Haringey Council and the Friends of Ducketts Common must presumably take some credit. On Sunday a rap soundtrack and the smack of ball on tarmac came from the basketball courts (black, brown and white players together, a miniature antidote to the riots that have been filling the media lately). Elsewhere, a group of Middle Eastern- or Turkish-looking men were sitting on the grass in a circle around a pile of cash playing cards, and a little girl ran next to me as far as the playground gates (‘Is she bothering you?’ asked her father).

You can see thoughtful touches – the chunky logs placed around the perimeter (good for sitting on, running along, or trying to balance on for a Simone Biles impression). Half the park is ‘a wildlife area’, and the council's website mentions a 'wildflower meadow', which is somewhat creative with the truth, but the pigeons bathing and preening in a puddle didn’t mind. The outdoor gym was seeing some use and there were even some sunbathers.

The next day, Monday, the park had a different feel – fewer people on the benches and grass, some on work breaks and some perhaps not, Rizla papers and beer cans much in evidence. Litter had built up by Tuesday and I was not that impressed seeing someone urinating against a tree as I jogged past.

Use of London parks – the figures

So what are the figures on London park usage? How many people use them, and for what? Have visits to parks increased recently? I can find no statistics about visits to Ducketts Common itself from Haringey Council’s latest management report. However, a 2017 Yougov poll based on a survey of just over 1000 Londoners showed that 10% visit a park or green space every day, and 48% at least once a week. Only 9% never visit them.

More broadly, recent government figures show about 50% of people in England had visited urban parks, fields or playgrounds in the previous month, based on surveys of about 6000 people each quarter between April 2020-December 2023. This figure had remained stable since July 2020. (Strangely I could see no effect of lockdown on visits, though 4% fewer people visited between April and June 2020). According to these figures, urban green spaces were visited by about 20% more people than other natural spaces such as beaches, woodland and countryside.

What do people do in parks?

I couldn’t find any figures for what people do in parks, but according to these government figures by far the most popular activity in all green spaces (including other spaces such as beaches, mountains and rivers) was walking (including dog walking), with 71% of people surveyed saying they did this. Next most popular was wildlife watching (25%), followed by picnicking (14%) and playing with children (12%).

The personalities of parks

In my experience parks have varied characters, just like neighbourhoods. I’ve just visited Bushy Park near Hampton Court, which has wide tree-lined avenues, and abundant bracken which provides cover for the baby deer born each year. A far cry from Ducketts Common in size and landscape, but all part of what makes London a comparatively green city.

A red deer feeding in a river in Bushy Park