On Monday 7 March the Commons Advisory Panel (CAP) accepted the proposal from Lincoln Art Ninjas that they continue with their art installation on West Common. The project uses the northwest corner of the enclosed cricket pitch area.
The proposal will lead to a more formal management agreement between Lincoln Art Ninjas and City of Lincoln Council. Two key conditions of accepting the proposal will be:
- Lincoln Art Ninjas will actively discourage people from cutting branches from other trees or expanding the area used for project.
- Items that are not environmentally friendly or create a risk to wildlife will be actively removed from the area. This includes plastic and synthetic materials along with any litter. Information displayed at the site will explain what is and isn’t suitable to leave.
Feedback to LLRA from residents prior to the meeting was generally very supportive of the positive elements of the Lincoln Wish Tree project which provided some comfort to those visiting it during COVID-19 lockdowns. Based on this feedback LLRA supported the proposal at CAP, with the proviso that the area should continue to be robustly managed by the organisers.
CAP overall accepted the proposal, noting that the natural elements such as the Lincoln Wish Tree had never been an issue. Previous concerns were over the high level of plastics and the large number of soft toy animals left at the site. The organisers have now removed these, as most contained a high level of synthetic materials and posed a risk to wildlife. The organisers had also confirmed to the city council that they were not responsible for trees or branches close to the site being cut down. (It was accepted that this may be caused by those removing them for firewood).
For background and proposal see: Feedback requested: A proposal by Lincoln Art Ninjas for an art installation on West Common
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