Have your say on future of area’s green spaces

1:11pm Thursday 10th July 2008

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BEXLEY is considered to be one of the greenest boroughs in London, with green spaces making up nearly 12 per cent of its land.

The council owns and maintains more than 100 of the borough's 500 green spaces, including large parks, amenity spaces, woodland and sports facilities, covering 1,577 acres.

Now Bexley has published its strategy for the borough's open spaces on how they could be used, what improvements are needed and how they should be managed for future generations.

And residents and organisations in the borough are now being asked for their views on it.

The amount of open space varies across the borough, with Crayford having the largest amount of green space per 1,000 people.

The Thamesmead and Erith areas have the most children's play areas, while Sidcup has the largest number of grass pitches and tennis courts and Bexleyheath has the most bowling greens.

A series of consultations, including questionnaires, user group workshops and an internet survey for young people have already been carried out.

These have shown parks and natural open spaces are the most frequently used, with only seven per cent of people saying they never go to a park.

The results show people are willing to travel greater distances to large parks and sports facilities, but say children should be able to get to them on foot.

People generally feel safe in the borough's open spaces, but there was general concern about the lack of provision for young people.

The consultations also showed a desire to improve sports facilities and, with their popularity growing, awareness of the availability of allotments was considered a key priority.

The draft strategy breaks down the green spaces into different categories - parks and gardens; natural and semi-rural open space; amenity spaces; provision for children; provision for young people; outdoor sports facilities; allotments and churchyards and cemeteries, and then lays out proposed key priorities for each of them.

It then proposes long and short-term objectives and proposals on how to achieve them.

People have until July 28 to comment on the strategy, which is available at bexley.gov.uk/ldf and can be seen in borough libraries, Wyncham House, Longlands Road, Bexleyheath, and the customer contact centre at Bexley civic offices in Bexleyheath Broadway.