www.crystalpalacepark.org 4th Edition May 2007 DEMOLITION OF TURNSTILES The first major improvements to the park are already taking place. The London Development Agency (LDA) has begun demolishing the redundant 1960’s concrete turnstiles and footbridge that linked the National Sports Centre to Crystal Palace railway station. The turnstiles have been unused for around 17 years and have been associated with anti social behaviour. The turnstiles will be replaced with a simple, functional yet attractive landscaped area that provides an attractive entrance to the park. The £250,000 scheme funded by the LDA will provide a new square, trees and shrubbery for the park and is one of the first projects, in a series of initial improvements, to be undertaken ahead of the submission of the main masterplan currently being developed by the LDA. Some of the fencing that is in a poor condition and limits access throughout the park will also be taken down. Part of this programme sees the park opening earlier, with the Thicket Road gate already opening at 7.30 am making early morning access to Crystal Palace Park easier. Work began on site on 23rd April and is expected to last until mid July, taking approximately 12 weeks. The masterplanning team has set up the Crystal Palace Park Security Forum. As the park borders five local authorities, this forum brings together crime-fighting professionals from the five boroughs. The forum has representatives from all the local safer neighbourhood teams. It meets on a bi-monthly basis. The forum has been working with the masterplanning team to develop proposals for help points across the park. Once installed as part of the masterplan, these could help to cut down the response time of the emergency services to the park. At the last meeting, Greenwich Leisure Ltd (GLL) who run the National Sports Centre on behalf of the London Development Agency (LDA) announced a plan to upgrade the NSC’s CCTV system. CONTACT US This magazine is also available in text form. Translation services are available upon request in the following languages: • Polski • Somali • Türkçe • Please contact us on 020 7357 6894. For further information please call the CPP Consultation Team on 020 7357 6894 or email us at cpp@localdialogue.com The next major LDA sponsored event in the park will be a Heritage Weekend to be held over the Whitsun Bank Holiday (26th - 28th May). The event will be a chance to find out more about the park’s amazing history, from its days as the world’s first theme park through to its current bid to become an international training centre for the 2012 Olympics. The LDA is carrying out archaeological digs on the Upper Terraces as part of the masterplan process and the weekend is timed to coincide with these. The weekend will see an exhibition of the park’s history in a specially erected marquee, together with a visit from the Masterplan Consultation Bus, where there will be a display about the masterplan. An ‘Antiques Roadshow’ will come to the park, with local residents asked to bring along relics and memorabilia from the park’s history, from statues to cutlery. Residents won’t be asked to part with their hidden treasure. Instead the aim is to catalogue and photograph them to create a community curated online exhibition of your hidden treasures. HERITAGE WEEKEND Heritage Weekend 26th - 28th May Crystal Palace Triathlon 27th May Guyana Family Sports Day 28th May Ballers Evening (Basketball) 31st May ASA London Swimming Championships 2nd - 3rd June London Olympians v East Kilbride Pirates American Football 10th June Radio Controlled Car National Race Meet 10th June Deaf UK Children's Athletics Meet 13th June Love Parks Week* 16th - 24th June London Youth Games Premliminaries 16th - 17th June GLL Wellness 10k Run 23rd June London Youth Games Finals 30th June - 1st July *Love Parks Week is a national campaign run by parks charity GreenSpace (www.loveparks.org.uk). There will be a series of activities taking place around the park during this week. For more information please visit our website www.crystalpalacepark.org, or if you would like to get involved please contact the team on 020 7357 6894. WHAT’S ON IN THE PARK SECURITY FORUM A public workshop will be held on 1st June, giving residents the chance to discuss the hot topic of using housing to part fund improvements to the park. The LDA has not made a decision on whether or not to include the two remaining housing options in the final masterplan. In the autumn the masterplan will be submitted to Bromley Council, who will make a judgement of whether to give planning permission for the masterplan based on local and national planning laws and guidelines. It is expected this decision will take around a year. The evening workshop will be held on FFrriiddaayyJJuunnee11ssttstarting at 66..3300ppmmand will be held at Anerley Town Hall. The decision over the Tramlink route is not part of the masterplan and will be taken by Transport for London in October this year. NEXT PUBLIC WORKSHOP Turnstiles at Crystal Palace Station being demolished PARKNEWS FARM TO RETURN TO CRYSTAL PALACE PARK Public workshop DATE: Friday 1st June 2007 TIME: 6.30pm - 9.00pm VENUE: Anerley Town Hall, Anerley Road, Penge, London SE20 8BD Heritage weekend DATE: Saturday 26th - Monday 28th May 2007 TIME: 11.00am - 5.00pm VENUE: Terraces, Crystal Palace Park Welcome to the latest edition of ParkNews. The transformation has already started in Crystal Palace Park as the unnecessary turnstiles next to the station are being taken down. Further information is provided later in this edition. The landscape architects, Latz + Partner are working hard to incorporate local people’s views into the plan in time for September’s submission to the London Borough of Bromley. The team now includes Laura Samuels, the newly appointed Interpretation Development Officer. Laura is developing an interpretation strategy for the entire park and the museum. This is vital to the masterplan as respect for the heritage and history of Crystal Palace Park is at the heart of Latz + Partner’s approach. The consultation team has been proactively going into the local community to collect the views of local residents to feed into the masterplan. We have visited local mosques, churches and temples. As part of Europe’s biggest park consultation programme, we have met mother and toddler groups, school children, teenagers and pensioners to name but a few. If you are part of a community group and would like our consultation team to visit you, please feel free to contact us. We have more events planned for the next few weeks including a workshop to discuss issues around funding (housing and other options) in Crystal Palace Park. Additionally, we are holding a ‘Heritage Weekend’ over the Whitsun Bank Holiday weekend on 26th - 28th May. More information about these events can be found on our website www.crystalpalacepark.org. In recent days, there has been a lot of media coverage of the emerging design. National newspapers and local web forums have been abuzz with talk about the proposed energy towers. Whilst, these proposals are still in an embryonic form, it is heartening to see Crystal Palace Park generating so much renewed excitement at a national and regional scale. Don’t hesitate to contact us with your suggestions to further improve ParkNews. If you have missed an edition of ParkNews, they can be downloaded from our website, www.crystalpalacepark.org. CRYSTAL PALACE PLANS MOVE FORWARD FARM TO RETURN TO CRYSTAL PALACE PARK Bromley Council’s planning committee has given unanimous support for the return of the farm at Crystal Palace Park. Crystal Palace Park has a long tradition of having animals in the park. A few years ago, the small zoo on the dinosaur island was replaced by a children’s farm on the present site. Since the closure of the children’s farm there have been no animals in the park. Local people have constantly voiced their frustration about the continued closure of the farm. Capel Manor Farm Capel Manor has earned a reputation for providing high quality learning experiences in animal husbandry and horticulture for both young people and adults. They have significant experience of managing city farms across London that are open to the public. A key element of their proposals is to provide facilities for members of the local community who are interested in developing their skills and knowledge in animal care and welfare. Their plans include offering free school visits and opening the farm to the public 4 to 5 days a week, including week ends free of charge. YOUTH EVENT The Crystal Palace Park Youth Event, to be held on Friday the 25th of May at Anerley Town Hall between 7pm and 10pm, will be organised around a series of informal activities allowing young people to express their views on the emerging vision for Crystal Palace Park. The purpose of the event is to set up a youth forum, which will have young people discussing issues that effect the park in more detail and help in delivering solutions. By collecting the views and concerns of young people, it is hoped that the park will once again become a park for everyone. The event will feature musical performances by local UK grime and hip hop group, Maytrix and a live DJ club set in the main hall, as well as light refreshments and snacks. A brief presentation of the latest design proposals will be given, and throughout the evening everyone will be given the opportunity to give their ideas about the scheme. Activities include a ‘graffiti wall’ in the lounge where comments can ge given anonymously, and a ‘memory/life histories book’ as a collection of aspirations and designed as a visual/verbal record of local youth histories in relation to the park. Additionally, the lounge will serve as a media centre for linking up to the Crystal Palace Park online ‘blog’ and tapping into the local youth radio stations that will advertise the event and broadcast live issues highlighted at the forum. The London Development Agency (LDA) welcomes the approval for the reopening of the farm at Crystal Palace Park given by Bromley Council on 26th April. The application is currently awaiting final approval by the Government Office for London (GOL). It is anticipated that the farm will reopen by September 07. Capel Manor will be holding an advice session at the Jubilee Stadium, Crystal Palace Park on Wednesday 23rd May from 5.30pm – 8pm. The evening is aimed at people thinking of developing their interest in animal care, horticulture and arboriculture. If you would like more information please contact 020 8676 3749 or visit their website www.capel.ac.uk HIDDEN TREASURE The Crystal Palace Park website is getting its very own blog written by local resident Jacob. Jacob is 12 and has lived near the park since he was born. The dinosaurs and the Crystal Palace Foundation’s Victorian Weekend really stick out in Jacob’s memories as features of the park. TERRACES The Italian Terraces, formerly surrounded by the Palace and its 'wings' once marked the beginning of the park and the Central Paxton Walkway. The masterplanners intend to echo these features, the grandeur and scale of the former palace and the formal gardens on the Italian Terraces. The terrace would be transformed into a balcony to provide a space for quiet recreation, with views into the park. Two glass houses are proposed to flank either side of the large grassed terraces, recreating the wings which stood either side of the former Crystal Palace. The glass house along Anerley Hill Edge would house a sub tropical dry garden. It will include park facilities like café/restaurant and public toilets. The glass house on the other side of the terraces would be a temperate one and contain a tropical garden section with butterflies. The masterplanning team has been consulting with Kew Gardens on glass houses and hope they will become a major attraction within the park helping to educate people as well as providing a place to relax and spend time. An essential part of the masterplan for the terraces has been preserving the original retaining walls. Latz + Partner have appointed a historical landscape conservation consultant and have developed a close working relationship with English Heritage to ensure their proposals respect the past while allowing future generations to enjoy the site. Another proposal that features heavily is the two sunken gardens which provide an innovative solution to address mobility problems created by the steep slope on the hill top area of the park. This idea emerged following consultation with the public, helping the masterplanners to solve a practical problem in the design process. Jacob’s interests include football and swimming at the NSC. He is also a keen web enthusiast, Onstoryline.com is a website he setup for young writers to contribute to one, long ongoing story. Over a short time the website has expanded to included a forum and a blog. To see Jacob’s blog, visit our the youth section on our website www.crystalpalacepark.org Inside view of glass house OUT AND ABOUT (KIDS FOCUS) The masterplan consultation team have been out and about in the local community, talking to local schools and community groups. The extensive programme has already seen the consultation bus visit a number of schools such as Paxton Primary, Kingswood Primary and All Saints Junior, where nearly a thousand school children have had the chance to hear about the local history and give their views on what should happen in the park. Requests have ranged from swings and slides to recycling facilities. Crystal Palace is a very diverse community with over 100 languages spoken in local schools. Over 50 local ethnic and faith groups have been consulted with in over 15 separate workshops. A ‘Lunch, Munch & Listen’ session for the over 65’s was also held and special session for those with physical disabilities is planned. EASTER EVENTS SUCCESS CPP consultation bus The Easter holidays saw the first of a planned series of ‘More Park Days’ with the park playing host to a range of activities sponsored by the LDA. These were designed to celebrate the Park’s past and future, allowing visitors to find out first hand about the emerging masterplan proposals as well as enjoying reminders of the park’s varied history. In the sunshine children were treated to face painting, balloons and dinosaur egg making. There was also an exhibition of life-size model dinosaur bones which took place at the lodge and the emerging plans from the masterplan were on display in a public marquee. Over 300 people visited the marquee, and three workshop sessions were held, allowing members of the public to discuss the proposals in detail. Historic tours were held with expert guides providing explanations of the park’s history from the dinosaur area to the old Palace site. A programme of further ‘More Park Days’ will held over the summer months, giving local people more opportunities to hear about what is being proposed for the Park as well as enjoying it as it currently stands. Section of the draft masterplan showing terrace CPP official blogger Jacob, aged 12