If the small piece on BBC News a few weeks ago is anything to go by, Lewisham are about to commence the consultation process regarding their plans for Beckenham Place Park. The general consensus amongst people who visit the park is that it is a wonderful piece of countryside we are fortunate to have right on our doorsteps.
Lewisham want to increase the footfall in the park and presumably hope to thus increase income.
They have the first round approval of their plans by the Heritage Lottery Fund and now have to firm up their Stage 2 plans to obtain almost 5 million pounds. They want to remove the only Inner London public golf course to clear an area for ‘events’ and take down some of the ancient woodland to reinstate the lake. They want cycle paths and pedestrian paths to transverse the woods and cleared open spaces, plus a lot of other things to encourage visitors. They wish to rebuild the burnt down stable block and turn it into a visitor centre and café but there is no talk about the deteriorating mansion in this bid.
Obviously some of their ideas are good but Friends of Beckenham Place Park have decided to do an unbiased survey amongst visitors to the park and have been very impressed with the interest and enthusiasm shown. So far the general consensus seems to be that people visit the park for the unique peaceful country atmosphere which is fast being removed from us ‘urbanites’.
Whilst the autumn weather is still with us, why don’t you take a stroll up there? It is amazing how many people the Friends interview, even locals, for whom it is their first foray. Sunday afternoon the Visitor Centre in the Mansion is open and there are survey forms you can fill in.
Visit www.beckenhamplaceparkfriends . The survey can be downloaded here Download Friends of BPP survey (Summer 2015) and emailed to bpp.friends@ntlworld.com