THE CONFLICT AND THE MEDIATION SCHEME IN A NUTSHELL

29 November 1999

What Bromley Wants

• An 18 screen multiplex cinema 950' long by 70' high.
• 9 eateries including fast food and takeaways.
• 3 'leisure boxes', contents to be decided by profit alone. Bowling alley? Video arcades?
• Rooftop car parking for 950 cars.
• Giant vehicle ramps on 3 sides of building.
• Opening hours 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. 365 days a year.
• Concrete tunnel entrance and roads in park.
• Illuminated traffic signage.
• Roads expanded to increase capacity.

Why we object

• Loss of 12 acres of green open space, protected as Metropolitan Open Land.
• Destruction of 200 trees.
• Vast unsightly building, the size of 2 football stadiums, vehicle ramps, tunnel entrance and illuminated signage do not belong in a park.
• Degradation of the historic site of the Crystal Palace, protected as Grade 2* listed historic park.
• Noise, especially at night, with hundreds leaving at 2 a.m..
• 17,000 vehicle movements each Saturday on narrow, Victorian residential streets, causing congestion and pollution. Traffic is the major cause of asthma in our children
• Crime. Major leisure venues attract it.
• Parking overflow. On-site provision is only 50% of what is needed.
• Threat to local trade, leading to spiral of decline on the village high street.
• Loss of village atmosphere. The surrounding area is a Conservation Area.

What we would tolerate

The Campaign has stated that it would tolerate low-key, environmentally sustainable development, provided that it meets three objectives:

1. It must respect the history of the site. This was the site of a national treasure, the Crystal Palace. It is not a proper site for an overwhelming multiplex development with such a universally hated design.
2. It must respect its parkland location. This building is at the head of the most important park in south east London and will destroy the peace and tranquility of the park
3. It must respect the residential environs of the site. The site is surrounded by residential areas. Local residents have a right to expect that their park will remain, essentially, a park and not a repository for a major, night-time commercial leisure concern, attracting thousands of cars and visitors through our quiet streets 365 days a year. The residents also have a right to be heard.

The mediation process

The Campaign, working with community groups, is taking the following steps to ensure the fullest possible community consultation prior to, during and after the mediation process:

• We distributed 35,000 copies of our newsletter, inviting the community's views on the future of the park.
• We are supplementing that with a poster campaign and this website.
• We have consulted 21 community groups, inviting them to canvass the views of their own memberships.
• We have met 15 of those groups, and discussed the mediation process with them.
• We have also invited councillors from the four adjoining boroughs to meet us and put forward the views of their constituents. Councillors from three of the boroughs took up the invitation.
• We are attempting to set up meetings with local business organisations.
• We hope to visit schools in the new year to seek the views of schoolchildren.
• We are establishing a think tank, composed of representatives of residents' groups, environmental groups, protest groups, councillors, business and local residents, to support the mediating team at the forthcoming mediation and to report back to the other groups with whom the Campaign is consulting.

The mediation will be conducted through the Centre for Dispute Resolution, the pre-eminent mediating body in the U.K.

The mediation will take place between the developer, London and Regional Properties, and representatives of the Campaign. The latter have been selected not for the volume of their voice but their professional experience in negotiating in hostile, litigious, situations.

After the first rounds of mediation and through the process described above, we hope to have arrived at a provisional solution to be placed before the community through further, extensive, consultation, by newsletters, public meetings and, if possible, public exhibitions.

There are three possible outcomes

1. the community may accept the solution. In that case, the Campaign, in its present form, will cease.
2. the community may accept the solution subject to caveats. In that case, the mediation will resume in order to iron out the caveats.
3. the community may reject the solution outright. In that case, the Campaign will go on.

The Future

We want to establish a stakeholders forum, to ensure full community participation in the future of our beloved park on a properly co-operative basis, involving all five boroughs.

This is new territory for the Campaign. If you believe we could improve on this process, please let us know and we will consider your concerns. We know that we can't please everyone all of the time, but we shall do our best!

29/11/99 Last updated 29/11/99
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