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Mayor Ken to tackle park plan
Livingstone ready to take action to prevent controversial football development
THE Mayor of London Ken Livingstone is against plans to build five-a-side football pitches in Regent’s Park on ecological grounds.
He believes the plans – that will involve demolishing a popular golf and tennis school, axing more than 60 trees and concreting over four acres of public parkland – conflict with his London Plan.
He has contacted Westminster Council after being alerted to the proposals during a visit to London Zoo on Thursday.
A spokeswoman for the Mayor said: “GLA staff have raised concerns that the development’s potential impact on the ecology of the park may be contrary to the Mayor’s London Plan.
“These concerns are currently being discussed with Westminster Council.”
The Mayor said he planned to contact Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell in a bid to stop the project.
The plans submitted by the Royal Parks Agency to Westminster Council sparked a high-profile campaign backed by Geoffrey Robertson, QC, Baron Moser and more than 1,200 members of the Friends of Regent’s Park and Primrose Hill group.
Many fear the application, if approved, will set a dangerous precedent allowing private gain from public parkland across the capital.
Liberal Democrat candidate Mark Blackburn, who is standing for the Abbey Road by-election in Westminster, said he was aware the pitches were being built but not that the golf and tennis school was facing closure.
Mr Blackburn said: “He (Mr Livingstone) told me that he would speak to Tessa Jowell to see if anything could be done about that.
“It was useful to be able to speak to him and alert him to it.”
He added: “I was pleased to learn that he was totally against the destruction of meadowland in Regent’s Park for this private development.”
The spokeswoman for the Mayor added: “The planning application for the football pitches in Regents Park is not referable to the Mayor. This means that he does not have any direct planning powers on this case.”
The deadline for objections to the proposals has been extended for the third time to April 27.
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