Dame Judi Dench joins the call to action for protecting the Capital’s green areas.
Over 50 London parks and green spaces are now “under serious threat from development and commercialisation”, according to The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE).
In a new report, the charity identified sites under threat across London, including recreation grounds, sports fields, nature reserves and Green Belt land.
The worst hit boroughs of London include Bromley, Greenwich and Havering, with four or more potential losses in these areas.
A spokesperson at CPRE London said: “In the past two years, we’ve faced two new challenges. Almost unbelievably, a legal judgement confirmed that councils have unfettered powers to sell parks.
“Elsewhere, parks are being turned into commercial event spaces. If you think London’s parks are protected, think again.”
CPRE’s statement accused the UK government of caving in “to lobbying to remove Green Belt protection, introducing a ‘grey belt’ policy enabling landowners to cash-in on protected countryside land they bought cheaply years ago”.
Dame Judi Dench, who supports the Guardians of Whitewebbs campaign against leasing Whitewebbs Park to Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, said: “Staggeringly, ten per cent of public land in Britain has been lost since 1979. Whitewebbs Park in Enfield is one of the public parks currently under threat.”
Dame Dench remembered one 450 year-old oak tree which was “brutally butchered”, adding that Spurs’ development plans involve cutting down 207 trees.
She added: “It is absolutely essential for us to protect these trees and people’s access to nature… It is clear to me that it is more important than ever to protect our parks and green spaces, before it’s too late.”
Cllr Yvonne Bear, Bromley Council’s Cabinet Member for Renewal, Recreation and Housing, has confirmed the Bromley Council executive’s position as below:
“We agree with their concerns about the new grey belt policy. We are strong supporters of the need to preserve green space, especially in London, to preserve air quality, contribute to health and wellbeing and even food supply.”
She wished to clarify that the council “has not been selling off any park space to enable any green belt developments”, stating that, “These are all proposed on privately owned land.”