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A rolling splash of green in south London, Brockwell Park is everything a local open space should be: packed with children, footballers and dog-walkers, picnicking, feeding the ducks, hanging out.
I must have walked up the hill with the kids in tow on scooters hundreds of times; it's a big local school route too. But now Lambeth council wants to chop a slice off. And the high-handed way it's doing so sums up the frustration of dealing with London town halls — as well as how cheaply it values our green spaces.
The junction at the south-east corner of the park, in Herne Hill, does get a bit jammed in rush hour — although no worse than a dozen other places nearby. More serious, it's unsafe for pedestrians: there is no proper crossing on Norwood Road, the busiest side of the junction, and you have to dash across between light changes.
Lambeth has for years nursed plans to remodel the junction but the latest involves shaving the corner off the park — more than 1,000 square metres of Metropolitan Open Land — in order to widen and straighten the lane turning into Dulwich Road. The plans were drawn up with minimal consultation, and without offering alternatives — even though pressure group Friends of Brockwell Park has since got a consultancy to devise an alternative to take half the parkland and deliver the same benefits.
The council's plans are expensive at around
£1 million. They're ugly: the new junction swaps trees for a large concrete traffic island. And the sole benefit appears to be higher traffic speeds, at a junction swarming with pedestrians.
I haven't spoken to anyone locally who is in favour of this monstrosity. Indeed, more than 4,000 locals opposed planning permission and when Lambeth referred it to the Secretary of State, around 900 objected. By this time it had become political: local Labour Party members were emailed, telling them to support the scheme. It was no surprise that the minister, Hazel Blears, rubber-stamped the decision last month.
London's neighbourhoods matter: in the end I care more about my patch than about any city-wide Mayoral scheme. Still, only one man can save us now. The scheme is using Transport for London funding. Boris Johnson has pledged to protect London's green spaces. Come on, Boris — get on your bike down to SE24 and stop the town hall bureaucrats steamrollering our park.
Reader views (3)
Here's a sample of the latest views published.
The Friends of Brockwell Park has commissioned a traffic engineer to come up with a scheme that delivers all the heritage, safety and traffic benefits of the Council's original scheme, but for 400sq mtr less of precious park land. It's not about defending every blade of grass, it's about saying that park land is very precious, to be given away only for the gravest of reasons, for absolutely necessary projects. The fact that the FOBP scheme takes less land means the original Council scheme should take its suggestions on board - for the longterm benefit of all, including dog walkers and nuisances.
- Peter, Herne Hill, Overlooking Brockwell Park, London
I think the pen pushers are right too! The sooner Herne Hill is pedestrianised, and this piece of Brockwell park redistibuted, for a better traffic scheme, the better. I am a regular dog walker in the park and have to frequently cross on Norwood Road from Herne Hill. And to be honest I wont miss the drunks who inhabit that corner of the park and often prove themselves a nuisance. Yes they'll move on but they seem to be the only people who use that corner currently! Will also make Herne Hill feel more "villagey" in the long term. Bring it on !!
- Adam J, Herne Hill, London
Good. The sooner this scheme is in place the better - short sighted campaigners looking to defend every blade of grass need to get real. The lives of cyclists and pedestrians are at stake here. It is also patently untrue to say local people are against it - the Herne Hill Forum has been oushing for this for years (in fact even the local Green Party councillor supports it!).
- Bob, Brockwell, London