Lewisham named as best London borough for parks for 2024

According to the Good Parks for London Report for 2024, produced by the charity Parks for London, Lewisham was ranked as London’s best performing borough for its park services.

The borough manages a total of 46 parks, ranging from the historic Beckenham Place Park to smaller parks like Manor House Gardens with a library and ice house, which are maintained with the help of volunteers.

The borough manages a total of 46 parks, including the historic Beckenham Place Park (Image: Lewisham Council) The report celebrates the work that London boroughs do to maintain London’s parks and greenspaces, with the aim of promoting good practices and raising standards to help further improve these environments.

This year’s report highlights the importance of collaboration in addressing the challenges parks services face.

Lewisham was ranked as the highest performing borough, followed by Hackney in East London and Lambeth in South London.

Lewisham was ranked as the highest performing borough, followed by Hackney in East London and Lambeth in South London. (Image: Lewisham Council) The assessment explores how each London borough is performing for its park services against ten criteria, ranging from public satisfaction and events to sustainability.

Lewisham scored highly in all areas and received commendation for its hard work to improve its score following a previous assessment in 2022.

Lewisham scored highly in all areas and received commendation for its hard work to improve its score following a previous assessment in 2022. (Image: Lewisham Council) Alongside being a top performing borough, Lewisham was also celebrated as one of five improving boroughs this year.

The news was celebrated at Lewisham’s Beckenham Place Park, where pupils from Downderry Primary school joined the Mayor of Lewisham, Brenda Dacres, Deputy Mayor, Louise Krupski, local MPs and ward councillors, alongside Glendale and local residents, to mark the occasion.

The news was celebrated at Lewisham’s Beckenham Place Park, where pupils from Downderry Primary school joined the Mayor of Lewisham, Brenda Dacres and others. (Image: Lewisham Council) Brenda Dacres, Mayor of Lewisham, said: “This is a huge achievement for Lewisham to be independently assessed as being the top performing borough in this year’s Good Parks for London report.

“We are so proud of our fantastic parks’ team, our excellent partners Glendale and all our amazing volunteers and Friends’ groups across our borough who work so hard to make sure that our parks and nature reserves are so special.

“Their commitment and passion for championing excellence in our green spaces for our residents is truly outstanding and we really appreciate everything they do.”