Other suggestions proposed by about 300 pupils aged five to 13 as part of the project to address “injustice, prejudice and racism” were “BAME Park”, “Multi-faith Park” and “Diversity Fields”.
“Rainbow Park”, “Freedom Peace and Harmony Park” and the “Peace Park of Equals” were also put forward, along with “Ramsey Park” and “MacDonald Park” – an apparent deconstruction of Ramsey MacDonald, the former Labour leader, who had tenuous links to landmarks in the area.
Brent Borough Council said it is continuing its “engagement” work pending a formal decision on a new name, which it has been searching for since the eruption of Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.
At that time, Gladstone – widely considered to have been one of Britain’s greatest political leaders – was swept up in a local review of “historical figures involved in the slave trade”, over his push for slave owners like his father to be compensated following abolition.
Although he went on to call slavery the “foulest crime” in history, he was named in a council-commissioned dossier of “historical figures whose views, in association with the slave trade, are inappropriate”.
