Crystal Palace Local

Crystal Palace Park is a Victorian pleasure ground used for many cultural, patriotic and sporting events. The sculptor Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins erected the first lifesized models of the (then) newly-discovered dinosaurs and other extinct animals in the park. The grounds once housed a football ground, which hosted the FA Cup final from 1895 to 1914 as well as London County Cricket Club games till they folded. This site is now the National Sports Centre, built 1964.

The extensive grounds were used in pre-war days for motorcycle and, after the 1950s, for motorcar racing; this was known as the Crystal Palace circuit. Parts of the track layout remain in 2005 as access roads. The track itself fell into disuse after 1972, although it has been digitally recreated in the Grand Prix Legends racing simulation.

The park also housed one of the pioneer speedway tracks, opening for business in 1928. The Glaziers raced in the Southern and National Leagues up to 1933 when the promotion moved on to a track in New Cross.

The park remains a major London public park. The park was maintained by the LCC and later the GLC, but with the abolition of the GLC in 1986 control of the park was given to the London Borough of Bromley. The park is entirely within the London Borough of Bromley, but its proximity to other boroughs left many Crystal Palace residents of surrounding boroughs feeling disenfranchised.

A long-fought-over local issue is whether to build on the open space which was the location of the original Crystal Palace building or to leave it as parkland as the GLC had done. Any development would be within the London Borough of Bromley, but affect residents in neighbouring boroughs and the access to the sports centre. It would also affect the skyline view across the whole of London.

In 2005 the Mayor of London and the London Development Agency (LDA) took control of the National Sports Centre in the park as part of London's bid for the 2012 Olympics. The Centre is now managed by Greenwich Leisure on their behalf. The LDA has the option to take on responsibility for the whole park by 2009.

The park is situated along the highest section of the London Clay ridge known at its ends as Sydenham Hill and Beulah Hill or the Claygate Ridge. This ridge offers views northward to central London, east to the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge and Greenwich, and southward to Croydon and the North Downs. The park has recently become home to many ring-necked parakeets, especially in the trees around the café and play area. Sightings of the birds have become increasingly common in South London but rarely in a location as busy as Crystal Palace Park. The park is one of the starting points for the Green Chain Walk, linking to places such as Chislehurst, Erith, the Thames Barrier and Thamesmead.