Residents and park visitors can now share their feedback about the borough’s parks and open spaces by completing the council’s annual park user satisfaction survey, with feedback encouraged before the survey closes on Sunday 15 September 2024.
The survey gives residents and park visitors an opportunity to share views about what matters about their local parks, woodlands and open spaces. You can also separately let us know about any specific problems in Bromley’s streets or parks by reporting these via the website.
The park user satisfaction survey results are one of our key performance indicators for our parks management and grounds maintenance service, and your feedback helps shape the council’s decision making.
Last year, for example, residents continued to highlight concerns about facilities in our parks and open spaces. The council again ringfenced and spent £250k of its maintenance budgets in parks and secured additional grant funding of £230k to complete improvements at ten tennis courts.
Furthermore, the council has listened to concerns raised about antisocial behaviour and recently installed a new perimeter fence to prevent unwanted vehicle incursions at Hoblingwell Wood Recreation Ground.
The council has also continued to award grants from its £1m Platinum Jubilee Parks Fund, enabling communities to apply for and direct investment in parks and open spaces in the projects that most matter to them. So far, the fund has been used to improve 13 playgrounds, install new community gardens or orchards at 3 sites, and a further 6 projects have made improvements to infrastructure such as signage, pathways and gates.
Earlier this spring, we completed the restoration of the Croydon Road Recreation Ground Bandstand, once made famous by David Bowie, and we continue to explore options for grant funding to make the most of heritage features in parks and open spaces, including those at Scadbury Park after the completion of a first phase of conservation works to Scadbury Moated Manor.
Last summer, the council committed £2m to desilt Kelsey Lakes in Kelsey Park and are currently in the process of choosing a supplier to deliver this important work. This builds on the work done to improve Croydon Canal in Betts Park, and the improvements made to Glassmill Pond by our partners Thames21 and the Environment Agency.
We know that improving biodiversity is also important to our residents, and last year we launched a pilot trial of Nature Friendly Verges at eleven sites across the borough, and a sustainable planting trial at 10 bedding sites, all for the benefit of our wildlife. We have also planted an additional 79 trees in parks and open spaces as part of our Treemendous tree planting programme, and continue to explore options for woodland establishment and further tree planting on council land.