Public left in the dark over park masterplan

The Crystal Palace Consultation team has been forced into a humiliating public apology for failing to update its website with key information about the public consultation and masterplan.

The team, which has spent £5million of public money on consultation and drawing up a masterplan to redevelop the park, claimed in its newsletter, Park News, that "As the masterplan nears completion, the consultation team is continuing to make it a priority to inform as many people as possible about the proposals."

But when we checked its website, crystalpalacepark.org, last week we found whole sections of it were months out of date and its masterplan page had not a single detail about what it is planning for the park.

• Under Future Events the most recent consultation event listed took place almost three months ago on May 22.

• The website included earlier editions of Park News but the August edition, which includes vital new information about the masterplan, had not been uploaded.

• Just months before it is due to submit its plans to Bromley, the masterplan section of the website included not a single item of information about what will be included - which is what most people will want to know.

• The August edition of Park News directs people to the website to find out the date and times of the CPP Consultation bus visiting housing estates in the autumn to provide detailed information about the masterplan. There was nothing about the bus tour on the website - let alone dates and times.

• Park News also promises a major exhibition of the masterplan at Crystal Palace Station in October - but there is no mention of this key event on the website.

Pat Ryan, councillor for Upper Norwood, said an updated website was "very important" and that the future of Crystal Palace Park was "one of the most important issues we have had to face in south London for a very long time."

He added: "You go online, search, look and probe for information but you're no wiser at the end then what you were at the start. People have been left in the dark and the general public need to be kept informed."

John Payne from the Crystal Palace Community Association called it "woeful". He added: "It's another example of how poorly organised this whole thing has been. It's been a fiasco from beginning to end."

An LDA spokesman said: "We would like to apologise that the website has not been kept completely up to date recently. The current website hasn't been our primary means of engaging with the local community, however the new CPP website, due to be launched in September, will be far more user-friendly and a more effective means of keeping everyone abreast of developments."

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