Rock Off!!

In a poor area of London a regeneration project has been a hit and miss among local residents.

A large boulder has been placed on a stretch of land that was previously a much loved football pitch among young people.

Alan, a local football coach, said “it’s a waste of money... we’ve still got grass, but there are no football pitches marked out or any goals up. At least they used to have a goal that you could shoot at. They have the pitches over there but you have to book them and they cost money. The old ones were free, anyone could play on them.

Another local resident, Earnest said “I don’t like the rock. Little kids come here to play and I think it was better when there was a football pitch here.”

However, Michael Pyner, the chief executive of the Shoreditch Trust has a different opinion. "We did a consultation and there hadn’t been a child playing football on those pitches over the last 12 months. It seemed to suggest that it wasn’t going to get used. From the consultations, people were also saying, ‘if you are going to put in art, then please put in art that can be used.’ So effectively you can look at the boulder but you can also climb it as it has hand holes in it.” The hand holes have since been removed, for reasons unknown.

However, regular park goers have declared that they were never consulted about these renovations. The general view is that art is ok, but it shouldn't take away the necessary features of the park such as a free football pitch. Francis, walking her dog in the park said. “I think on a whole the boulder is a good idea, because it’s there for enjoyment and for people to benefit from public art. But it’s up to interpretation whether you like it or not. Personally I don’t like it that much but there are probably plenty of others that would. But I think a football pitch would be better.”

A woman we found looking at the boulder told us. “I think it’s a case of working with the kids that use the football pitches and finding out what they want in the way of art and trying to combine the two."

Her friend added “Maybe an installation that includes goalposts.”

Pyner, also believes that there is an issue surrounding the affluent west London verses the poor east to be considered in the argument about art in the public areas. “I have big issues with the fact that if this was a park in a posh bit of West London there would be a big bit of art and everyone would expect that, but you come to a poorer bit of London and the debate is always about ‘you should have things to do for the kids about football, and never about art because working class kids should have different aspirations.”

It seems Shoreditch trust is in between a rock and a hard place. They have made people happy with some of their regeneration of the park, spending £121,000 on the first LED lighting in the park, the first in Europe. But in the case of the boulder, more people should have been consulted, including young people, and if it was absolutely necessary to insert the boulder in a large open place, maybe they could have found somewhere in the park a little less bold.