6:50am Thursday 23rd April 2009
By Matt Watts
Crystal Palace Park could face another 20 years of neglect after the London Development Agency (LDA) chose not to take up the park’s lease, a London Assembly member has warned.
Green Party member Darren Johnson said it was anybody's guess what was going to happen to the park following the LDA decision to leave Bromley in direct control of it.
He said by taking the lease over, the LDA - the Mayor of London Boris Johnson's agency for economic development - could have had greater control of carrying out the £41m of major improvements mapped out in its masterplan.
He said the LDA’s actions were jeopardising the restoration of the park.
But the LDA has said it is “fully committed to the park and the masterplan”, after investing more than £5m in creating its plans, and ownership of the park was not a prerequisite to regenerate it.
The LDA is defending its controversial plan to fund parts of the masterplan by building 180 flats on the park at a planning inquiry called by the Government Office for London in July.
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