Croydon town hall called out by volunteer group for ‘neglecting’ country park
By Harrison Galliven, Local Democracy Reporter
Volunteers working tirelessly to protect and improve Croydon’s only country park claim the council is ignoring their requests for more support.
South Norwood Country Park (SNCP) has a full-time warden, but volunteer groups like the Friends of South Norwood Country Park (FSNCP) also play a part in its upkeep.
Its members say Croydon council does not value their work and is ‘ignoring’ pleas for more support in running park facilities and protecting the site from harm.
A café’s lease is set to expire, yet has had no word from the council on a long-term renewal, a visitor centre damaged in an arson attack in 2020 remains closed despite promises to reopen it, and fly-tipping and illegal fishing go unchecked, volunteers claim.
Lucy Hopkins, who runs The Kiosk café, said: “I’m absolutely at a loss as to why there’s no engagement from Croydon, especially when you have highly motivated councillors and people in the community who are essentially working for you for free.
“We’ve completely regenerated a disused space within the park, and to have no support on that project is frustrating. It feels like the Mayor is just paying us lip service and saying the same thing over and over again, he just has not followed through on his promises.”
Ms Hopkins fears for the café’s future, as its lease is up for renewal in just a few months. She feels the ‘small gesture’ of providing a temporary extension for The Kiosk would mean a lot for the park, but she has yet to see any chance of this happening.
According to Ms Hopkins, Mayor Jason Perry promised the Friends he would work to reopen the visitor centre. Yet the centre and the park’s only accessible toilets remain locked to the public and a magnet for graffiti.
Ms Hopkins claims: “The council would not even support us painting a bird mural at the visitors’ centre because now we’re just left with graffiti there. I just don’t get the mentality.”
In addition to serving as a park for residents, SNCP is a nature reserve for local wildlife. The lake and large, open wetlands attract birds like herons, grebes, and ducks, while the grasslands are home to many small mammals.
The lake has become another concern, with the recurring blight of illegal fishing along its banks. “We have a lot of illegal fishing all the way around the lake, and nobody enforces it,” a volunteer claimed.
“We see professional dog-walking vans from Bromley walking loads of dogs. It’s a big problem for us because, as a nature reserve, there are habitats we want to preserve, like the wetlands.
“The park is for everyone, and we just want that balance between nature and public use. We’d rather people stick to the path, but when you have a proliferation of dogs, that balance is pushed over.”
Croydon council and Thames Water have been approached for comment.
Pictured top: The Friends of South Norwood Country Park work to keep the park a place that people and wildlife can enjoy (Picture: Harrison Galliven)