Crystal Palace Park Trust will take on a 125-year lease for the management of the Grade II-listed park on September 15, it has been agreed with Bromley Council.
Patient as the Sphinx: it has taken 25 years of community activism to get Crystal Palace Park handed over to a locally-run Trust
Announcing the transfer date – which will be five months later than was originally planned – the Trust described it as “a crucial milestone in the wider regeneration plan” for the regionally important park.
They are planning to stage a community celebration day on Sunday September 17 to mark the occasion.
The handover process follows the leasing of the Concert Platform to the Trust in April. The Trust is also already responsible for managing all events and concessions in the park. From September, the Trust will be responsible for the day-to-day management of the historic park.
Philip Kolvin KC, the Trust’s co-chair, said, “For our community, it has been a 25-year journey, bringing us to this starting line. Now the real job begins.”
The other co-chair, Martin Tempia, said, “Since the late 1960s, there have been four proposals to redevelop the park commercially . They all failed.
“It is the community who have come forward and secured a sustainable future for the park. The handover marks the culmination of years of hard work and determination by the many involved in securing it.”
A wonder of south London: work on the Crystal Palace Subway should be completed this year
For Bromley, council cabinet member Yvonne Bear said, “We have been working closely with the Trust to ensure a smooth transfer to their management, so they have everything they need to hit the ground running.
“This transfer forms a key part of the wider regeneration plan, which is not only about improving facilities and restoring the park’s historic structures, but also about creating a sustainable model for the future of the park so that the regeneration truly benefits the local community and economy over the long term.”
The council is progressing with the £52million Regeneration Plan for the park, which covers a wide-ranging programme of capital works including the restoration of the world-famous dinosaur statues, conservation of the Italian Terraces and Paxton Bust, creating a purpose-built event space on the Lower Italian Terrace and numerous other improvements.
Works are already underway as part of this plan, with the restoration of the Grade II*-listed subway making good progress and to be completed later this year.
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