London Assembly Member for Bexley and Bromley, Thomas Turrell, has welcomed the decision by Bromley Council’s Development Control Committee to unanimously approve planning permission for restoration works to the many historic Victorian features across the park, including the iconic dinosaurs and Italian Terraces. The plans are part of a £17.75m transformation, with works set to commence in 2025.
The key elements of the plans include:
- The restoration of the Grade-I listed Geological Court, including the Dinosaur sculptures and an enhanced landscape setting.
- A new dinosaur and geologically themed play area.
- The restoration of the Grade-II Italian Terraces.
- A new information centre and maintenance facility.
- A new feature entrance at Penge Gate.
- Improved lighting, wayfinding, and accessibility around the Tidal Lakes and Italian Terraces.
Landscape proposals will also seek to enhance the park’s incredible green spaces, with new meadows, paleo-inspired planting and wildlife friendly shrub is included within the proposals to help create new habitats. Sustainable water management will also see stormwater runoff integrated within the landscape, through sensitively sculpted swales and rain gardens.
Bromley Council is delivering the wider £52m regeneration plan for the park in partnership with the Crystal Palace Park Trust, who assumed responsibility for the management of the park as part of an historic handover in September 2023.
The development of proposals for the dinosaur sculptures and their surrounding landscape, as well as the new play area and Information Centre have been made possible thanks to funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the ongoing support of Historic England to help guide restoration, particularly for the dinosaur sculptures.
Further funding is being provided from a number of sources to support the wider plan, including the sale of residential developments next to the park at Rockhills and Sydenham Villas, which received outline planning permission in 2021. Additional grant funding opportunities are also being sought on an ongoing basis and are still required to deliver the full regeneration plan.
In addition to these works, Thomas also recently visited the National Sports Centre in Crystal Palace Park to hear their plans to rejuvenate the centre and bring national athletic events back to Crystal Palace. The Centre is receiving a multi-million pound investment from City Hall to get the Olympic diving pools re-opened, make the buildings more sustainable and improve other facilities. The running track, which had fallen into disrepair, has now been resurfaced along with other improvements to the site have already begun. The investment follows a campaign from the local community, supported by Thomas’s predecessor in the Assembly Peter Fortune.
Welcoming the news, Thomas said:
“Crystal Palace Park is not just beautiful, it is historic. The dinosaurs are an important historical representation of how Victorians believed dinosaurs looked. There is so much to do at Crystal Palace Park and it is great to see these ambitious plans moving forward, ensuring that future generations can enjoy the park in years to come.
I am also pleased to see the plans with the Sports Centre moving forward. This site is the home of UK Athletics. Several of Olympians have trained here. The diving pools, which are currently closed, is the only one of its kind in South London. I am really excited by the plans the team here have for the centre to ensure that future Team GB medal winners are also trained here in Bromley.”
