The People's Republic of South Devon

Newton Abbot Green Party candidate Corinne Lindsey has been out and about on the politicking trail. Maybe it’s a measure of the Green Party campaign that their political flick includes footage of other candidates – they even managed to capture on film the lesser-spotted Labour candidate Patrick Canavan* (Simon King, eat your heart out).

Unlike the Tories, who are pushing the limits of their electoral spending, the Newton Abbot Green Party’s campaign has been a low-key affair, and it could pay dividends.

Corinne’s election trail also took her round Decoy Country Park, where she met community ranger, Simon Cunningham.

Simon told Corinne that the park serves ‘as a gateway between the “wild” natural environment and the urban environment’. The hardest part of the job of a ranger he said is balancing the competing needs of the various groups using the facilities of the park and in managing the space in such a way that the management of the ‘wild’ is invisible.

In a refreshing change from the emphasis on controlling risks, the rangers now promote a benefit assessment in order to ensure that the experience is not sanitised and homogenised.

Corinne told the PRSD: “We all have a great deal to learn from the work being carried out in Decoy. The clever way that the wild space is managed and the benefit that an urban country park can bring to people clearly shows us the way forwards in balancing the needs of the natural and human environments.”

Over 400,000 visits are made annually to the park, providing an important green space in the town for dog walkers, families and young people. Many of these visitors come from as far afield as Plymouth and Exeter, attracted by the excellent play facilities and the wildlife reserve.

There is no statutory requirement to fund and protect green spaces such as Decoy meaning that they are vulnerable when there are cut backs made by governments.

Corinne said: “Spaces such as these have a value beyond an accountant’s balance sheet. With the three big parties threatening massive cuts, we must ensure that places like Decoy continue to be invested in for the benefit of the whole community.”

* We suspect it was a flying visit by the lesser-spotted Canavan, and that he was on his migratory root to Exeter, where his basks in the shadow of the peacock-like Ben Bradshaw (he makes lots of pointless noise).

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