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.…
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Hear the latest about National Sports Centre improvements
Last year the Mayor of London formally endorsed a comprehensive capital improvement programme for the National Sports Centre.This decision recognised that doing nothing, or implementing a short term ‘patch and repair’ programme would not address the long term deterioration of the buildings or provide the sports and community facilities that we need. The costs were estimated to be £219 million over 25 years, assuming 2% inflation.The GLA’s commitment is welcome and local organisations like the CPCA will want to ensure that it is honoured in spite of the latest threats to public sector spending.GLA’s Project Manager has kindly agreed to attend our AGM on 24 November and we look forward…
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Come to the CPCA AGM!
We will be holding our Annual General Meeting at 7:30 pm on Thursday 24th November 2022. The meeting will take place via Zoom, in order to give as many people as possible the chance to attend. We will post more details nearer the time, including information about guest speakers and what we plan to cover at the meeting. In turbulent times, it’s more important than ever that we keep up our local networks and respond as a community, so we hope you can join us. Please e-mail cpca@onetel.com to receive a link to the meeting and we look forward to seeing you on the 24th!