Dear Hugh and Michael,
Barnes Common is run by a charity called Barnes Common Limited (https://barnescommon.org.uk). This is a charity which until relatively recently was called “Friends of Barnes Common”. I recommend their excellent website which perhaps reflects how well they manage both Barnes Common and other local open spaces. It also includes an interesting history section. Most of their funding comes from the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames plus donations and other sources of income.
I have often thought that some form of cooperation between WPCC and BCL could have real benefits and makes a lot of sense. I doubt however that re-drawing of the Act which established WPCC would be financially feasible or possible. However that does not mean that some sort of contractual arrangement could not be made for outsourcing the management of Putney Common to BCL.
After all BCL have already contracted to look after other open-spaces in the local area, and the geographic sense of running the two adjoining commons together makes sense.
Of course the Wimbledon-centric bias at WPCC does not reflect the fact that Putney levy payers pay the larger proportion of the annual Council Taxes received by the organisation. An historical quirk. This might mean that the current management arrangements cannot be unpicked without knowing more about how the costs associated with the three areas which are the responsibility of the charity — Wimbledon Common, Putney Common and Putney Heath — are allocated.
Perhaps analysing WPCC costs in relation to where and on how the Levy is allocated and spent might be one of the first tasks for the new Conservators.
Nick
Nicholas Evans ● 47d