When the GLC was abolished all those years ago the Lea Valley Regional Park was set-up and all London Council Tax payers are charged a supplement to pay for it. Works out around £3 per household every year. The park is more than half in Essex and Hertfordshire with the remainder north east London.

The idea is Lea Valley Park is so important for all London’s residents that we should all pay for it.

Don’t get me wrong. It looks from the web a lovely park for those that live near it.

Trouble is I’ve yet to meet anyone in Southwark who’s heard of it, let alone know where it is, can tell me its purpose, let alone realise that they are paying for it.

I think this goes back to that age old problem of paying taxes without representation. Lea Valley Park officials will claim that many local authorites can put forward one of its councillors who can then help shape it. Hardly a direct link. It never features in elections. Nobody ever votes for  this public body.

If it really is that important a London park it should be run by the GLA which is the London wide local government elected body. If it isn’t that important then we should’nt be paying a surcharge tax to keep a park for people in Essex, Herts and NE London. And this quango can go.

This would leave this £300,000 surcharge paid for by Southwark residents to be spent on parks actually in Southwark.

The current situation seems morally bankrupt.

What do you think?