UKC

Hi Folks,

I doubt many of you aware aware but the Mayor of London has plans for the redevelopment of the facilities at the Grade 2 listed National Sports Centre in CP Park.

https://www.london.gov.uk/…/regeneration-project-crystal-pa…

Unfortunately there is a real possibility that many facilities will be removed and one of those at risk is the climbing centre.

I’m a regular climber at the centre and also a parent of a child that climbs there, as too are many other local people and parents from the wider community, but we need more support.

As usual the GLA and Mayors office provided only a short amount of time for a public consultation period and this has caused issues for us users to coordinate a response.

Other national and local sporting bodies came to represent and support their respective sports at the one consultation meeting (Track and Field, Gymnastics, Diving etc etc) but unfortunately the BMC said they couldn't help and I haven't yet heard back from the Association of British Climbing Walls so we the users of the wall are having to go it alone...

As I mentioned, the GLA and Mayors office gave us a very limited window to respond with no notification whatsoever (the climbing centre instructors and management didn't even know).

Perhaps its so they can push through any plans at a later date and insinuate there was no interest or concern from the climbing community but I wouldn't want to sling mud (ahem).

Because of this were pretty desperate and could really do with a boost from you guys.

Essentially I’m asking if you could help us by taking literally just a couple of minutes out of your day to fill out a short survey voicing your support for the Climbing wall and also the expansion of its facilities.

The survey can be found here https://cpsp2020.com (don’t forget to mention the wall!)

You can also email the GLA / Mayors office directly about keeping / expanding the gym at NSC@london.gov.uk.

They've seemingly tried to run the centre into the ground recently, doing things which dissuade folks from climbing.

The wall had no shoes for beginners for a long time and the few pairs they did have were quite literally held together with gaffe tape. They refused the funds for the instructor to buy a wall clock and diary to make bookings telling him to get to Poundland and buy it himself with his own cash (which he did).

The wall is crumbling and no investment has been made for a long time and climbers and parents are leaving and taking their kids elsewhere.

Ive no idea why they're taking this tact but were determined to fight it, climbing in the uk is growing at 20% per year, the Olympics are on their way and an expansion could really help finance the centre.

Anyway, thanks in advance for any show of solidarity.

Cheers

Matt

Matt, 

My kids and I learnt to climb at the old Crystal Palace Wall and I used to go to the "New" wall for a while.  Haven't been for a couple of years though.  As you say, it never seemed to get the funding or attention which, I think, it deserved.  South London has some small walls and bouldering places but does not have a good climbing centre such as eg The Reach or White Spider. It would be a shame if the facilities a re reduced even more. 

It may be worth trying the BMC again, I was at the London & South East area meeting last week and the possible redevelopment was mentioned (though I was so bored with governance discussion I may have dozed off briefly ) .  The chair of the local area is Rik Payne, see if you can contact him via the BMC?  

I am a member of the Brixton Climbers and will post on our Facebook page as well. 

btw you first link to the GLA document doesn't seem to work, can you check an re-post it? 

Hi, apologies for the broken link, here’s the fixed one:

https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/regeneration/regeneration-project-crys...

Thanks for the reply and the name of the guy to contact at the BMC, I’ll try again.

And thanks again for posting on the Brixton Climbers FB Page, it will really help to get folks speaking up, we’re very short of voices but it’s slowly gaining traction..

It is a real shame there are not better facilities, it’s so well located and a large centre could help finance the running of the centre quite significantly as the GLA makes huge losses on the place. 

Anyway, let’s wait and see, hoping they’ll come to their senses!

Cheers again