Celebrating the improvement works at Beckenham Place Park

We recently held a series of fantastic events with our partners to celebrate improvements to the River Ravensbourne, as part of a collaborative £3 million project on the east side of Beckenham Place Park that started in November 2023.

Local children from Downderry School were able to enjoy a brilliant rubber duck race which took place at the River Ravensbourne and was hosted by Thames21 Engagement Officer Catriona Ross and Lewisham Council Lead Ranger James Allen, and cheered on by mascot Daphne Duck.

While on the riverbank, the children were shown what’s alive in the water by examining trays of riverfly with magnifying glasses. Riverflies are invertebrates that spend most of their life cycle in a river, stream, pond or lake. The presence or absence of invertebrates can be used as an indicator for the water health of the river.

The celebrations continued to the brand new playground so that the children could properly test out the new range of exciting play equipment, and each child was presented with a certificate signed by the Mayor of Lewisham, Brenda Dacres, and given a goodie bag from contractors T Loughman & Co. and BDP Landscape Architects.

Mete Coban MBE, London’s Deputy Mayor for Environment and Energy, Deputy Mayor of Lewisham Louise Krupski, Janet Daby MP for Lewisham East, local councillors, and the Environment Agency, were also at the event.

Works in Beckenham Place Park started in November 2023 and less than 12 months later are now coming to completion and have included improved footpaths, wayfinding improvements to the river corridor, new planting and rewilding of the east side of the park to help reduce flood risk and increased community volunteering opportunities, which Thames21 has delivered.

The off-road cycling trail and outdoor gym will be finished soon and there will be an improved welcoming main entrance from Old Bromley Road. The new park café planned will have publicly accessible toilets.

T Loughman & Co Ltd are the main contractors delivering the park works and have a proven track record of successfully delivering park and river regeneration and restoration schemes. Landscape architects from BDP have been involved from the initial conceptual design stage and are taking the project through to completion.

Brenda Dacres, Mayor of Lewisham said: “It was fantastic to be at Beckenham Place Park with so many of our brilliant volunteers and partners. Thank you for everything that you do to protect and enhance our green spaces and wetlands in the borough. I’m excited to see these improvement works at Beckenham Place Park in person!

“Working in partnership with communities helps to foster the sense of community ownership and stewardship necessary to make these river improvements sustainable longer term and that was firmly in evidence. The transformation of Beckenham Place Park on the east side will help to ensure that all our residents have access to even better green spaces whilst tackling the risks caused by the climate crisis.”

Mete Coban, London Deputy Mayor for Environment and Energy said: “This outstanding project showcases how improvements to green space can help Londoners to access and enjoy nature, improve biodiversity and mitigate the impacts of climate change. Sadiq has pledged to turbo-charge restoring nature to London’s rivers and waterways and this transformation of the River Ravensbourne is a great example of what can be achieved. We are proud to support this project through the Mayor’s Green and Resilient Spaces Programme, as we create a greener London for all.”

Cllr Louise Krupski, Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Environment, Transport and Climate Action said: “The climate emergency has increased the frequency and intensity of more extreme weather events and protecting our urban rivers is a key priority for the Council. The flood mitigation project is fantastic, protecting 822 homes from flooding in the immediate vicinity as well as giving significant flood protection to homes and businesses downstream and to the road and rail network. We saw these measure kick into action very successfully during a heavy rainfall event last month, when the park absorbed the excess flood water.

“Thank you to all our excellent partners who have worked so hard with us to turn our plans for the park into reality, providing beautiful and vital green space for our residents.”

Chris Coode, CEO at Thames21, said: “London rivers are often beautiful spaces for nature, but they face a number of challenges. This can include plastic pollution, run off from road networks and sewage pollution. It’s been excellent to work with dedicated local volunteers, Lewisham Council and our partners to take this opportunity to transform the River Ravensbourne for wildlife and for people.”

Jack Hayes, Area Business Manager at the Environment Agency, said: “We are very pleased to be supporting this partnership project which will benefit the local community for recreation while improving flood risk protection. Following recent heavy rainfall, water which would otherwise have passed into residential areas downstream, spilled into the storage area as intended, protecting properties, and demonstrating successful reconnection of the river to its natural floodplain.

“The planned wider planting and river enhancement work will be a great step towards improving the health of the river and habitat and enhancing the local environment.”