Woodvale charity: asking walkers to work on public footpath

5th May 2020

The Woodvale and Ainsdale Community Association (WACA) has met growing public criticism after a recent (16 April) posting on their Facebook page, which has been seen as flying in the face of sensible government safety precautionary guidelines on the Covid-19 pandemic.

WACA has asked walkers to take a “bucket” to spread wood chip, which is located in a pile by the narrow woodland pathway, close to Meadow Lane. The pathway was made in 2013 by the original Woodvale Woodland Project (WWP) volunteer team.

The WACA post asks people to “remain vigilant about social distancing”. Nevertheless, there seems to be little point in asking people to ‘social distance’ and yet on the other hand asking them to help with public gardening tasks that may easily attract more trusting families and their children to join in.

Consequently, WACA’s post has been seen as unprofessional, potentially irresponsible and may of course encourage people, who would not normally visit that location, to flock together in groups. That in effect may flout lockdown rules and create serious coronavirus risk to the public.

Police have already issued many fines across the country for anti-lockdown public breaches. If members of the public do not comply, police will be able to:

Instruct them to go home, leave an area or disperse;
Ensure parents are taking necessary steps to stop their children breaking these rules;
Issue a fixed penalty notice of £60, which will be lowered to £30 if paid within 14 days;
Issue a fixed penalty notice of £120 for second time offenders, doubling on each further repeat offence.

COVID-19 Local Police Update, Social Distancing

Thankfully, numerous sensible voluntary community groups have observed government guidelines and stayed safe at home to help the NHS save lives.

We all need to do what we can to help our brilliant NHS teams save lives and not recklessly encourage trusting groups of people to band together.

Lockdown is there for very good reason, do not defy it! This is not a game!

This is not the first time safety issues have been highlighted.

Serious concerns about WACA’s insurance, finances and safety concerns, etc have been raised before.

Facts not fiction over the misleading WACA statement