Last year there was an almighty row (or if you prefer, a healthy democratic debate) about proposals for a skateboarding facility in Telegraph Hill Park in New Cross. Eventually a compromise was agreed of locating it next to the existing football tarmac area at the Pepys Road side of the lower park (the area shown fenced off below), as this would have the minimum impact on green areas. The decision to go ahead was signed off by the Mayor of Lewisham a year ago in December 2010.
A couple of weeks ago, notices appeared stating that the work was finally starting, and the fencing was put up around the site. But the works have not yet started, with contractors apparently called off following a letter objecting to the work sent to the Council by some people involved with the Friends of Telegraph Hill Park.
They are claiming that the planned works are for a larger facility than that agreed previously, cutting further into the bank. For the Council, Martin Hyde (Green Space Regeneration Manager) has responded that while it is larger than the proposed skate park project first discussed last June, it is a similar size to the scheme supported by the Telegraph Hill Assembly in September 2010 and then approved by the Mayor.
The matter will be discussed at a Friends of the Park meeting at 7.30pm tonight - Tuesday 13th December - at the Hill Station (Kitto Road, SE14).
In any event, the Council have stated that having undertaken appropriate structural surveys, they are reassured that the bank's stability will not be affected by the works and that the works programme will be going ahead as planned. Hopefully work will be able to start again soon so that by next spring there will actually be somewhere to skate rather than endless talk about it.
[update 14 December 2011: contractors are back on site and work is continuing]
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