Cambridge Road Estate: Area of Deficiency of access to Open Space

 GLA Assembly member former chair

Dear Andrew,
You may remember we corresponded & subsequently met with you in 2021, re: local environmental degradation, including green space provision in the plans for the  regeneration of the Cambridge Road Estate, loss of footpaths etc. in advance of the planning application.

One of the issues was increasing the population in an Area of Deficiency of access to open space. The attached map of AoD, was drawn by Greenspace Information for Greater London and the purple is the Area of Deficiency. 
Kingston Council had an Independent Assessment of Open Space provision in Norbiton Ward stating that it was below the qualitative standard of 1.11ha of public parkland per 1,000 population (Atkins). This was before the population was to rise considerably when  the number of residences > double.



Knowing this, the developers consultants, Barton Wilmore, stated that Kingston Cemetery was to be the new Open Space, and was in fact a Park. From that day onwards the new Park remained open 24/7 and it has been very helpful to us in many ways. 
 

However, the police have requested Kingston Cemetery closed forthwith, due to anti-social behaviour and it does not officially open unto 10.00am on a weekend  closing at 4pm. What kind of open space is that? 

Whilst it may be advantageous to wildlife, it has actually robbed us of the opportunity to have had  provision optimised at the planning stage. We should have had less density, more green space, more CIL etc.

We are back to being an AoD and the regeneration of the Cambridge Road Estate is therefore contrary to the London Plan and the Mayor must be informed of this. ...........



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