I write following your report (Cutting report for green areas, News Shopper August 10) and an anonymous letter (August 17) on the state of the borough's parks and other leisure facilities.

Our parks and open spaces are an important part of what makes this borough special. The council fought hard to reverse the decline in investment suffered nationally by public parks during the 1980s and early '90s when resources for local services were steadily eroded.

The decline in the number of park wardens, mentioned in your article, is due partly to this erosion in funds and partly to a deliberate shift by the council in the way that we manage our parks.

No-one would expect us to move resources from schools, child protection or care for the elderly, but we have been successful in using our budgets more effectively, and improving the standard of parks maintenance.

The fact - as your article mentions - that there is no dedicated budget for park maintenance makes no material difference to the service, since the money for such work now comes from general council maintenance budgets.

We have also had success in attracting investment from outside sources such as the Heritage Lottery Fund, and environmental trusts. These have funded some outstanding improvements to several of our parks such as the award-winning Well Hall Pleasaunce in Eltham, new animal enclosures at Maryon Wilson animal park in Charlton, and Bostall Gardens in Abbey Wood, where youngsters are enjoying a new play area.

All play equipment in our parks has been upgraded, and now meets nationally recommended standards for safety and design.

Vandalism and anti-social behaviour are, sadly, part of a pattern that can be seen across the country. In Greenwich we work closely with the police to try and make our parks safe places for all to enjoy.

Investment in new facilities also includes security measures such as better fencing or CCTV.

The council recognises that there is room to improve our parks still further, which is precisely why we asked the scrutiny panel to investigate and come up with suggestions. The panel's report contains some extremely good recommendations such as widening the range of public events held in our parks, and increasing community involvement in how our parks are run. I am confident that these will form the basis of our next steps in making our parks better and safer places for all to enjoy.

Cllr Vicky Morse, Greenwich Council cabinet member for culture and community