(N22) - Comments on Residential bulding at Crystal Palace Park and the start of a new phase of planning
The reason this is a new phase in the current regeneration process is
because the Master Planners have been appointed to produce, early
next year (2007), the realisation of the vision for the park shown at
the major consultation in October 2005. A draft of the ideas,
developed over several years of working with the local community and
others, was produced by the London Development Association (LDA). In
section 5 the vision for the Crystal Palace Park was presented and
received widespread acceptance. Here's a reminder of what was set
out:
Crystal Palace Park
Planning Framework
A draft for consultation - October 20055.2 Vision
Our vision is for repair and rejuvenation, creating a revived metropolitan park of the twenty-first century, which meets the needs of local people, sports people, and the public at large and provides a valued leisure, educational and recreational resource.
Our approach to the vision is composed of the following actions.
1 Activate the edges, green the core &endash; by providing key Gateways and reducing the impact of sports related infrastructure and car parking in the park.
2 Increase the quality and quantity of parkland&endash; by providing more accessible green space, particularly within the core of the park and improving the quality of that space.
3 Combining economic, social and physical sustainable regeneration &endash; to produce one of the first sustainable parks which will act as a catalyst for wider regeneration in this part of south London.
4 Re-establish the Park's local and regional significance&endash; to become a visitor destination for the local and wider community.
As we approach the time when the Master Planners (Latz) will have to complete their work, many people are naturally anxious about the outcome. This has resulted in a lot of mis-information being published in the local press mainly drawn from people who are not directly represented in the Park Working Group.
To ensure that the work of the Master Planning period results in a plan which fully takes into account the world-wide status the park enjoys, the aspirations of local people and traders and its role in the "Regeneration of London", there will be many more avenues of consultation. There is a danger that a "lowest common denominator" solution may prevail. However, looking at the previous work of Latz, this is highly unlikely.
Oct/06 Last Updated 16/1/2007