Thanks to all for a great meeting of the Crystal Palace Community Association at the Jackdaw in Coopers Yard on 23 November. The meeting started with a vintage 50s short film, which gave us a glimpse of Crystal Palace’s Upper Level Station before its demolition, as well as some wonderfully eccentric characters and a dog with angel wings (don’t ask!). The Annual General Meeting business saw Mark Green, Teresa Fritz and Len Blomstrand nominated as CPCA Chair, Treasurer and Secretary respectively for the coming year, and last year’s accounts approved. Martin Tempia from the Crystal Palace Park Trust then gave us a detailed and very positive account of its activities…
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What next for Crystal Palace Park?
From September this year Crystal Palace Park has been managed by the Crystal Palace Park Trust. The Trust holds a 125-year lease on the park from Bromley Council and its contractors maintain the park. The Trust manages all the events in the park, from the big summer festivals to community events. The one thing it doesn’t control is the multi-million regeneration plan for the park, which will be delivered by Bromley Council. The transfer has helped Bromley Council cut its expenditure on the park. Now it’s up to the Trust to make sure that it can generate enough money from events, lettings and any other sources of income to achieve…
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Mayor promises improvements at NSC
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has announced plans to repair the National Sports Centre’s athletics track, install replacement flood-lighting, reopen climbing walls in the indoor leisure centre and upgrade the fitness gym. Work would continue apace on ‘our vision for the long-term future of the centre’. However, he warned that ‘the level of redevelopment and repair work required is significant and extremely complex’. Work on the vision has been in progress for some time. A consultation was launched by the GLA on the future of the Crystal Palace NSC back in 2018. Then, in March 2020, it announced that £1 million would be spent on design and development work. The results…
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Handover of Park to Trust begins
The first step in the long-awaited handover of Crystal Palace Park from Bromley Council to the Crystal Palace Park Trust took place at the beginning of April, with a lease to the Trust of the concert platform – also known as the Rusty Laptop. The transfer of the concert platform falls short of the originally anticipated full transfer of the Park on 1st April. The Council and the Trust stated: ‘The handover is being phased over the next few months, with full handover expected to be completed by September, rather than by April as initially targeted.’ The Trust’s business model assumes that resources to improve the park, including day-to-day maintenance,…
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NSC regeneration urgent after floodlight failure
The recent failure of floodlight masts at the NSC shows the urgency of the GLA’s regeneration programme for the site. So it was good to hear the GLA confirming to the CPCA its continued commitment to this vital work. At the CPCA AGM on 24 November 2022, the GLA’s Programme Manager for the National Sports Centre attended and presented the authority’s plans. The regeneration programme is hugely ambitious. It includes re-constructing the 50 metre pool, creating a new public space in the centre of the complex and relaying the athletics track. The GLA itself has only identified funding for part of this work, so finding funding partners will be critical.…