Reclaiming Kennington Oval!

Lambeth Council has restricted traffic on the roads going through and surrounding Kennington Park Estate and called it Kennington Oval Reimagined. We – the residents – are campaigning to Reclaim Kennington Oval. Lambeth’s objectives of healthy neighbourhoods, improved air quality, traffic reduction, increased cycling and walking, and safer streets are all admirable. Sadly, the way they are implementing them is not. Major traffic-heavy roads encircle Oval cricket ground and Kennington Park Estate, but it is the quiet streets within that circle which are now subject to wide-ranging controls. The pollution, noise and poor air quality from the major roads will continue unabated. With school streets at either end denying access for two hours a day, large planters taking up half the width of the narrow streets and new double yellow lines, residents’ lives are being severely disrupted. There is only one narrow access road into most of the Estate. Large…

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Kennington Park Community Centre is being refurbished, not demolished – see the latest plans!

Since consultation with residents began last summer, the Hyde Group has made substantial changes to its original proposal to demolish and replace the Community Centre.   Residents made their hostility to these plans very clear, and many argued for the current Centre to be refurbished rather than demolished. This is what is now happening. Current plans now comprise retaining the best features of the Community Centre, in particular the Main Hall, and refurbishing the rest of the building to modernise it, enlarge the community room, rebuild the toilets and drains, and make it more pleasant, more eco-friendly and more cost-effective for us all to use. The courtyard space will be extended and turned into a community garden. And there will be a community cafe as part of the space at the front of the building. The current Arts Depot building will be replaced by modern facilities for community and creative…

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Residents’ meeting, 6.30pm Friday 20 October 2023

All Estate residents and Community Centre users are invited to come to a meeting to discuss Hyde’s proposals to redevelop the site of the Community Centre and the Oval Arts Depot. (hover over and click the arrow at the bottom of the poster to read more on page 2……)  

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Plans for the future of Kennington Park Community Centre

Hyde Housing circulated a letter to all residents at the end of July saying that they are planning to redevelop the Community Centre and Oval Arts Depot site. The letter said that they plan to demolish and then rebuild the Centre and Depot buildings, and to build new flats on the site. This letter can be seen below.   Many residents will remember that Hyde made similar proposals nearly a decade ago. When those plans fell through, Hyde handed management of the Centre over to volunteers from the Tenants’ & Residents’ Association and supported us in forming a charitable Community Benefit Society to run it democratically. Despite having to close during Covid-19 lockdowns, the Community Centre has flourished. It is financially viable, and provides space for many groups, including a drama school and historical fencers, faith groups, a youth club, several after-school clubs, Zumba exercise for older people, and a…

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