Evening Standard 6th December 1999
Following an article in the Sunday Telegraph on 5th December 1999 by Catherine Milner, the Arts Correspondent, the following piece appeared in the Evening Standard. The ST article showed a picture of the building which is a scaled down version of the Hyde Park Crystal Palace. The architect, Ray Hall, claimed that he is now waiting for planning permission from Lewisham Council to put the building on Blackheath. He also "hopes that it will be moved after six months to Sydenham - near where the original burned down."
Read on....
Evening Standard - 6/12/99
The Countess of Wessex has been dragged into an unseemly squabble between the developers of a Crystal Palace replica and Lewisham Council. Ray Hall yesterday announced his plans to build the £20 million replica on Blackheath near the Greenwich Meridian, using Sophie Wessex's PR company RJH to handle publicity. Hall said he was awaiting planning permission - but Lewisham Council says he hasn't even applied properly.
"We have not had a valid planning application" says a spokesman for the council.
"We told the developers we would need traffic and environment impact surveys and we haven't had them. As far as we are concerned this project is not going ahead. No commercial development is allowed on Blackheath."
"There is enormous support for our project," claims Hall today. Evidently not from Lewisham Council - and nor the Blackheath Society, which opposes the plan.
17/12/99 Last updated 17/12/99