Crystal Palace Park - public enquiry
On 1 September Planning Inspector Mrs. Ava Wood reported the outcome of last January's week long Public Inquiry on the designations of the Top Site of Crystal Palace Park and the Major Developed Site status of the area of the National Sports Centre (NSC).
Bromley Council had conceded prior to the opening of the Public Inquiry that the Top Site should be considered as Metropolitan Open Land and Mrs Wood agreed that this was the correct and only proper designation for this piece of parkland.
With regard to the NSC, Mrs Wood said that a new policy wording should be introduced to safeguard the park from any infilling or redevelopment proposals that might come forward in the future. In short, this new wording safeguards the long term regeneration of the park by ensuring that any such development on the NSC site should improve the openness of the park and should not exceed the height of the existing NSC building. Mrs Wood also recommends that any such building should enhance the visual amenity of the park and should be restricted to indoor and outdoor sporting uses only. Bromley Council will not officially adopt these options until later in 2005 but it is highly unlikely that it will decide to go against the Inspector's recommendations.
After seven long years the controversy about the future of these prominent sites in this historic park would appear to have been resolved and the discussions about regeneration of both the NSC and the park, the subject of the recent public consultation (see here), are now free to move forward within an agreed planning framework.
Autumn 2004
Bromley Council had conceded prior to the opening of the Public Inquiry that the Top Site should be considered as Metropolitan Open Land and Mrs Wood agreed that this was the correct and only proper designation for this piece of parkland.
With regard to the NSC, Mrs Wood said that a new policy wording should be introduced to safeguard the park from any infilling or redevelopment proposals that might come forward in the future. In short, this new wording safeguards the long term regeneration of the park by ensuring that any such development on the NSC site should improve the openness of the park and should not exceed the height of the existing NSC building. Mrs Wood also recommends that any such building should enhance the visual amenity of the park and should be restricted to indoor and outdoor sporting uses only. Bromley Council will not officially adopt these options until later in 2005 but it is highly unlikely that it will decide to go against the Inspector's recommendations.
After seven long years the controversy about the future of these prominent sites in this historic park would appear to have been resolved and the discussions about regeneration of both the NSC and the park, the subject of the recent public consultation (see here), are now free to move forward within an agreed planning framework.
Autumn 2004
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