Bromley Council has reassured residents that it does not intend to sell parkland in the borough following concerns areas were being earmarked for development.

The comments come following the conclusion of an open space strategy consultation, which was met with push-back from environmental campaigners.

The Countryside Charity argued the published strategy contained “actions aimed at getting rid of open spaces” when it should “discuss how they will meet the needs of a growing population and improve their offer for local residents.”

Councillor William Huntington-Thresher, Executive Councillor for the Environment, said: “I would like to reassure anyone who has been concerned that having sought to protect greenspace for so long, this is not changing.

“I would just like to make it very, very clear in light of a number of deliberately misleading comments being circulated across social media attempting to frighten people into believing otherwise, this strategy was always about conserving and enhancing our parks and open spaces, including woodland and the like, it was never about selling parkland.

“I hope it is now abundantly clear if anybody ever attempts to deceive you into believing otherwise that we are not about to sell any park and that we adore our green spaces and environment.”

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The Countryside Charity (CPRE) urged local residents to register their concern before the closing date last week.

CPRE London said the council should reject all references to development or disposal of precious green spaces in its new Open Space Strategy.

CPRE London campaigner Alice Roberts said: "We are very concerned about the draft Open Space Strategy, a central aim of which is to identify green spaces ‘for development or disposal’.

"We strongly object to the Open Space Strategy’s central aim to build on and/or dispose of green space and urge that the council does not agree any document with these aims.

"I would usually expect a borough's Open Space Strategy to discuss how they will meet the needs of a growing population and improve their offer for local residents.

"But at the outset there is a statement that one of the challenges will be 'being brave enough to recognise when open space should be repurposed' and the stated Strategic Objective 1 is to 'identify open spaces that require alteration, investment or reassignment including development or disposal.'"