News: Nonsuch Secrets Revealed

Fairly modern secrets rather than anything historical, I'm afraid. From the Epsom Guardian:

"The secret Surrey County Council report into proposals for Nonsuch Mansion has only just been released under the Freedom of Information Act.

It has taken 14 months for Surrey to react to the request even though a leaked copy has been widely publicised by the Stoneleigh and Auriol Residents Association (SARA).

The report for which the consultants charged £26,216, is expected to have finally cost the tax payer more than £100,000 in officer time and expenses, a cost which Surrey will not confirm."

Full story: Epsom Guardian, 14th May 2008.

Nonsuch: Sorted

The BBC News web site reports that the grant of a new 125-year lease on Nonsuch Park/Mansion to Sutton Council and Epsom and Ewell Council has now been approved.

And about time too...

Nonsuch: Final Decision Imminent?

It looks like the argument over who should run Nonsuch Park is, finally, drawing to a close -- well, unless Surrey County Council throw yet another spanner in the works.

For those of you who haven't been watching with steadily-rising levels of Bemusement, Nonsuch Park's management (including that of the mansion house within the park) has, for many years, been down to the Joint Management Committee; as the name implies, this is a joint venture between Sutton Council and Epsom and Ewell Council (the park lies on the boundary between the two boroughs). However, Surrey County Council is the holder of the deeds of the land, and a couple of years back they decided to "get involved" in the park's management. So far, this has involved refusing a lease to the company chosen by the Joint Management Committee to take over catering and other activities at the mansion, and threats of selling off the mansion itself and building a new museum. The closure of the catering facilities (other than the outside cafe) at the mansion, while its future was decided, also made a big difference to its budget.

(While a new museum may not sound like a reason to be up in arms, the County Council rather glossed over the fact that there is already a very good museum at the mansion, run by the Friends of Nonsuch.)

The suggestions by the County Council went down among the area's residents, and the Park's users, like the proverbial lead balloon. Petitions were organised (for instance by the Save Nonsuch campaign). Local MPs spoke out against the plans, Sutton's Paul Burstow and Epsom and Ewell's Chris Grayling both condemning the high-handed attitude taken by Surrey CC.

Bemused and family -- who like Nonsuch Park just the way it is, thank you very much -- look forward to confirmation of a final resolution.

New 'Keet On The Block

I don't know how many of you saw the BBC programme which was shown on Friday and Saturday -- just a little ten-minute job, called "The Great British Parakeet Invasion". I doubt that it'll be news to anyone that green parakeets have thoroughly colonised this area along with much of the rest of England, especially the south-east. There's a colony of thousands in Esher, but there's also a fair number of them flying around Nonsuch Park whenever I've been there in the last few years. We don't often see them in our garden, but we did have this rather cheeky visitor just before New Year!

Although they're very noisy when they get going, I confess I'm rather taken with them -- it's the bright colour that attracts me, I think. I saw some once in a yew tree near the café in Nonsuch Park, feeding on its berries, and the contrast between the light green birds and the dark green tree was very attractive -- shame I didn't have my camera with me that day.

(Expect more postings about Ewell's wildlife over the next week or two -- I seem to have seen quite a lot of it today...)