A SMALL CAFÉ.
A VERY BIG ROW.
ParkLife Café is to close. First came the community. Then came the dispute.
For four years, a local resident, their family, volunteers, park users and a small community charity have faced a sustained dispute involving allegations, legal proceedings, Council investigations and extraordinary administrative pressure.
At the centre is a small minority within a local Park Group, calling themselves the Executive Committee, making decisions in the name of its wider membership.
Moving plants around a public park is perfectly understandable. What followed was rather more ambitious.
The Park Group’s leadership pursued the disruption of community events, circulated allegations, instructed solicitors and brought bankruptcy proceedings against the former volunteer.
The dispute drew in the Council, its investigative departments, an Ombudsman and other organisations.
And with the Council’s involvement came another participant in the dispute.
