(R58) CRYSTAL PALACE CAMPAIGN - IMMEDIATE MEDIA RELEASE - 11 May 2001

Bromley Council today announced it was scrapping the massively opposed Crystal Palace Park multiplex and terminating its agreement with London & Regional Properties Ltd. A council statement said that

“L & R have failed to complete the lease within the prescribed period”.

Philip Kolvin, chairman of the Crystal Palace Campaign which for over four years has mobilised intense community opposition, taking actions to the highest courts and the European Commission, issued the following statement:

“Bromley’s capitulation is a victory for the local community, a tribute to the tens of thousands of people who stood together for what they knew to be right in the face of aggression and greed. I want Crystal Palace to stand as a symbol of what can be achieved when ordinary people unite. Let it be a lesson to those, be they councils or corporations who believe they can ignore the human voice. I say once more: parks are for people, they are the birthright of the citizen – as Bromley has learned to its, and its council taxpayers’ enormous expense.

The Crystal Palace Campaign will now be inviting the London Mayor, the five local authorities surrounding the park (including Bromley) and all local people to work together to plan a sustainable future for Crystal Palace Park: a future which recognises its environmental value, its precious historic past, and its residential environs. We trust that as the past four years have been bitter the next four will be sweet. As the old Palace burned, Winston Churchill said he mourned the end of an era. Today, we celebrate the start of a new era for Crystal Palace.”

Note to Editors:

Bromley’s website is www.bromley.gov.uk; Darren Johnson GLA and Mayor Livingstone are understood to be issuing press releases. as are Tessa Jowell, MP for Dulwich & W Norwood.

The Crystal Palace Campaign began in 1997; Bromley’s planning consent was granted in 1998 when John Prescott declined to intervene. Actions for judicial review went as far as the House of Lords which declined leave to appeal. A complaint to the European Commission that Bromley and the UK government had breached European Law by failing to require a prior Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) led in October 2000 to a formal EC letter of complaint, and the matter is still pending. This April a Bill introduced by Geraint Davies MP to transfer ownership of the Park from Bromley to the GLA was given its Commons first reading, with the promise it will be reintroduced in the next Parliament. In a separate action local resident Diane Barker has a judicial review of Bromley’s failure to require an EIA pending in the Court of Appeal. Full information on our website, details below.

Press Officer: Fred Emery 020 8761 0076 Mobile: 0794 117 202
All correspondence to: Hon Secretary, 33 HogarthCourt, Fountain Drive, London SE19 1U
E-mail: fred@syre.demon.co.uk Website: www.crystal.dircon.co.uk

11/5/01 Last updated 11/5/01