Crabtree Fields has opened again with a special event to mark the completion of five months of renovation works carried out by a contractor working for Camden Council.
Shortly after midday on Friday 19 September two local residents cut the ribbon to open the newly refurbished public park to allow a crowd of visitors to tour the new playground, grassy areas and pergola, which have been redone to help prevent the anti-social behaviour that previously blighted the public open space.
The small park, on the corner of Colville Place and Whitfield Street in Fitzrovia, underwent works over the summer costing £344,000 as part of Camden’s Green Space Investment Programme.
“In 2023 we launched a community engagement and co-design process through workshops and surveys, to ensure the sensitive restoration of the park,” said Councillor Adam Harrison, cabinet member for planning and a sustainable Camden.
On a very warm afternoon, Deborah Saunt, co-founder of the firm DSDHA which led the redesign, explained that the issues with the original design have been addressed so that residents can feel safer. One feature that hopes to achieve this is the more controlled planting within flower beds, which will increase visibility and limit hiding spaces for criminal activity.
“The framework of the original design is all here, it just feels more open”, states Saunt.
Plans for the redesign were contentious because the original space was a highly regarded example of a pocket-sized urban park. However, DSDHA prioritised the inclusion of park users in the design process during a public consultation so residents felt involved in the planning.
The design was led by Saunt’s colleague Tom Greenhall and the landscaping was carried out by Ginkgo Landscape Contractors.
An important aspect of the renovation is to decrease the already low maintenance costs. This saw the pergola, a distinctive feature of the park, replaced and its greenery removed. In addition to cost-cutting, this decision supports the design’s intention to create an open and welcoming environment. According to Saunt, redoing the pergola was “controversial, but the result is great”.
The redesign was welcomed by many local residents, one of whom commented: “I feel grateful and blessed that it has finally come to fruition. Hopefully it will attract people to come on their lunch breaks, not just young adults but older people too”.
The co-chair of the volunteer group, the Friends of Crabtree Fields, agreed that the redesign is a significant improvement from the park’s previous condition: “It’s a modernisation. They have taken the feeling and character of what was here before and just updated it”. He is hopeful that the biodiversity will return and ensure that the park continues as a thriving habitat for wildlife.
Across the coming months, the Friends group will be organising bulb planting, watering and cleaning days at the park. These events seek to “raise the profile of the park and limit anti-social behaviour”.
While the reopening was met with enthusiasm, many expressed their concerns that when the landscape contractors leave after one year of continuing work to establish the new planting, the park may deteriorate with maintenance left to volunteers and the council’s borough-wide grounds’ contractor.
Local residents commented on the historic problem of overflowing bins and “threatening” behaviour, which they are apprehensive may return if the space is neglected. This comes after a request in 2023 for more cleaning of the green areas and a stronger police and warden presence throughout the space was denied by council officers due to a lack of ongoing revenue funding. Instead Camden allocated £344k to be spent on capital works.
The question many people asked is whether the park’s condition will again decline, or if the event marks the beginning of a new positive chapter for Crabtree Fields.
Rishi Madlani, councillor for Bloomsbury ward, recognised the increase in anti-social behaviour over the last few years. However, he is hopeful that the park will be well occupied in order to prevent disruptive activity.
“The park is a breath of fresh air. It’s open, light. The openness creates transparency”, he said.
However, local resident Max Neufeld said the new design was “banal” compared to the “outstanding example of an urban park” that had been created in the mid-1980s after a long-running campaign by the Charlotte Street Association and local residents.
Neufeld lamented the removal of the dense shrubbery and climbing plants, and the replacement of the original wooden framework and trellises with an “oversize pergola” with no green cover.
Mature planting “has been taken away and replaced by a different concept” that is “feeble” compared to what was there before. He predicts that much of the planting will get trampled from daily use.
Neufeld was however pleased to see the new children’s playground, along with the “return of the wooden horses” which were part of the original design but which had been removed.
The Friends of Crabtree Fields will be holding cleaning and planting sessions from 10am to 11.30am on the following dates in autumn and winter 2025/2026:
- Wednesday 8 October
- Sunday 19 October
- Wednesday 5 November
- Sunday 16 November
- Wednesday 3 December
- Sunday 14 December
- Wednesday 7 January
- Sunday 18 January
Contact: crabtreefriends@gmail.com
Additional reporting by Linus Rees.
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