Crystal Palace Park dinosaurs

[ALIB]

The BBC article in the link below offers an insight to Crystal Palace Park, and the financial burden to Bromley. The dinosaurs risk becoming extinct,...again

[Link]

Bromley have no money for the park, hence the quote, "Bromley Council's Peter Morgan said money for restoration would also be "generated by the sale of sites on the periphery of the park" currently subject to planning permission." (BBC website)
The £800,000 to do a feasibility study seems massively excessive.

This is going to incite a reaction from the Crystal Palace Community Association. The CPCA is a hard-core of residents who have opposed any development of the park,..often in a forthright manner (e.g. protests against the proposed multi-plex cinema, forthright opposition to the Master Plan in public meetings, etc)

[sophie]

This may be of interest:


https://historicengland.org.uk/whats-ne ... d-at-risk/

[RJM]

There's a planning application here: https://searchapplications.bromley.gov. ... =firstPage

I've not read it - there's a lot of documentation!

[JGD]

Sorry RJM

That link is relative to your original search and does not display the documentation you saw.

More than interested to see the details - can you post the reference number please.

Interestingly LB Lewisham's site does the same thing when you post a search result.

[RJM]

Dammit, I didn't realise it had done that. Apologies! All the Councils seem to use the same planning website software, and it's not the easiest to link to .

The reference is: 20/00325/OUT

There are about 200 documents related to the case, so it's going to need some time to go through.

[JGD]

The application summary is a read in itself.

So much.

......comprehensive phased regeneration of Crystal Palace Park. This will include: conservation and repair of heritage assets; removal of existing hard surfaces; alterations to ground levels and tree removal; landscaping including planting of new trees; demolition of existing buildings and structures; creation of new pedestrian paths/vehicular access roads / car, coach and cycle parking; changes of use including part of the caravan site to part public open space and part residential; erection of new buildings and structures comprising: up to 2300sqm for a cultural venue (Use Class D2), up to 530sqm of park maintenance facilities (Sui Generis) including the dismantling and reconstruction of existing maintenance depot; up to 150sqm information centre (Use Class D1); up to 670sqm for a community centre (Use Class D1); up to 737sqm of educational institution at the Capel Manor College Anerley Hill Site (Use Class D1), and up to 3779sqm of educational institution at the Capel Manor College Farm Site (Use Class D1) of which 3399sqm comprises educational buildings and 380sqm comprises ancillary shelters/ outbuildings; and up to 18,847sqm of residential (Use Class C3) accommodation to provide up to 210 residential dwellings, together with associated and ancillary works including utilities and surface water drainage, plant and equipment. Full planning permission is sought for alteration to highways access at Anerley Hill Gate entrance, Penge Gate car park, Old Cople Lane (Rockhills Gate), Sydenham Gate car park and the creation of three additional accesses for the residential development at Rockhills and Sydenham Villas. | Crystal Palace Park Thicket Road Penge London SE20 8DT

Has there been any consultation with the community - substantial or otherwise ?

[JGD]

Interesting that Bromley's acknowledgment letter of 24 February 2020 is addressed to itself c/o AECOM.

AECOM self-describes itself as "the world’s premier infrastructure firm, partnering with clients to solve the world’s most complex challenges and build legacies for generations to come."

No hint of understatement there then.

The letter also has this para "Thank you for your application and fee of £115346 which was received on 4th February 2020."

Apart from the lazy punctuation, that's £115,356 - over one hundred and fifteen thousand GBP, just as a planning fee.

Indicative perhaps of the estimated value and scale of the proposal.

Observationally, it is interesting that Bromley elect to publish comments received, complete with names and addresses and classifies them. Unlike Lewisham who have a policy that these shall remain anonymous.

[alywin]

I'd thought that previous work had been carried out to repair/reinforce etc. the dinosaurs already.

[JGD]

This may be of interest:

https://historicengland.org.uk/whats-ne ... d-at-risk/

Sophie's useful link confirms that work has been carried out previously - and on two occasions.

The cause of the deterioration is not yet understood, but ground movement on the artificial islands which are home to the monsters and changing water levels in the surrounding lakes, is suspected.

By adding the much-loved sculptures to the Heritage at Risk Register, Historic England is raising awareness of their plight and is focusing attention on their repair and conservation. The project will be led by Bromley Council as part of a major regeneration of Crystal Palace Park.

While significant specialist conservation work was carried out in 2003 and 2016-17 thanks to council, the Mayor of London, Lottery and partnership funding, a major research project and survey work is needed to try to get to the bottom of the problems and find a long-term solution.

By adding the Dinosaurs to the Heritage at Risk Register, Historic England and Bromley Council can focus on their repair and conservation with a fresh approach.

[JGD]

The Crystal Palace Park Trust have launched a Community Briefing on Bromley Council’s Application for Outline Planning Permission.

There is a 34 page document to download and The Crystal Palace Park Trust make this commentary.

However, the application is not easy to understand. It contains 195 documents, and the Council’s planning register does not list these in a legible order or title all the documents for easy reference.
The purpose of this briefing is therefore to strip out the complexity, present the proposals in a digestible way and offer guidance as to questions you might address in your consultation response to Bromley.

The Crystal Palace Park Trust announcement on Twitter can be found here:

https://twitter.com/CrystalPalacePK/sta ... 71201?s=20

The Crystal Palace Park Trust Community Briefing can be found at this link:

http://crystalpalacepark.org.uk/wp-cont ... e-Park.pdf

Bromley Council has made an application to itself to regenerate the Park and the direct link is here:

https://searchapplications.bromley.gov. ... 2QXBT0RH00

[Ian Bull]

The Dinosaurs have a friends-group to look after them and they are getting things done. Well, they were until the virus struck!

https://cpdinosaurs.org/blog/post/sneak ... aur-bridge

All the best

Ian

[Sideofham]

Sad news, it appears some bandits have vandalised the Meglasaorous: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-52789270
Lots of happy memories going to visit the dinasours both as a kid and with my own children. Hopefully they apprehend the perpetrators and make them pay for the damage.

[Michael Viner]

Saddened and disgusted by this senseless vandalism of one of these treasures,loved by locals and visitors for generations and like a friend for so many children-loved him and the other dinosaurs since I was a child in the 60's/70's. I hope he can be repaired soon and the perpetrators caught

[syd-gal]

Men caught in picture climbing Crystal Palace Dinos

https://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/1848 ... ace-dinos/