A row has been brewing about public consultation with the users of Ally Pally - the Hornsey Journal reported the "dire response to the survey" in this report.

Alexandra Park survey flops with ‘worringly low’ response

A web survey for visitors to voice their views on Alexandra Park picked up just 11 replies.

Yet park bosses admitted the dire response to the survey on the state of the park’s maintenance was still the best they have had in three years.

The head of the Alexandra Palace and Park Board called the poor response “worryingly low” despite it being distributed to hundreds of residents.

The customer survey was sent out to all 38 members of the palace and park’s advisory and consultative committees, appealing for them to forward it to other residents’ groups in the area.

Board chairman Councillor Matt Cooke said at a board meeting at the Palace on Tuesday, June 21: “I think it’s a worryingly low response. Things like this are a fantastic opportunity to promote the work that we do to engage local residents.

“It’s disturbing that only 11 members of these committees responded, let alone residents.”

He urged the Palace to put the survey on the venue’s website in a bid to have it seen by a wider audience.

Park manager Mark Evison said: “Unfortunately it was a very low turn out but the responses that we did get were that the park was satisfactory or very good.”

He later added: “This is the highest response we have had in three years.”

Since then discussion on our neighbouring network Harringay Online has suggested that genuine community engagement should be sought using more imaginative methods of disseminating the survey. Indeed it was suggested that it may be "a survey designed by a contractor to fulfil a contract condition". It was designed and is being run by the park grounds maintenance contractor, John O’Conner (Grounds Maintenance) Ltd.

A forthright analysis on the OpinionN8 website for Crouch End and Hornseycriticises the format of the survey.

As a piece of public consultation I think the surver in its current form has several flaws - primarily the need for a clear introduction or context to explain who is running the consultation ... and importantly what will happen as a result. But also the poor construction detailed above. However if you use Ally Pally Park, or pay rates in Harringey that contribute to its upkeep, I urge you to have your say.

So ... with the above caveats ... here it is. Lets see if Bowes and Bounds Connected members can generate more than 11 responses.

You can access it on SurveyMonkey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GR6FFN9

Richard McKeever

Site Admin