Cray Wanderers supporters gather to deliver over a thousand letters of support to City Hall

Cray Wanderers have delivered over a thousand letters of support for their revised planning application to build a new ground, community facilities and affordable housing on the site of Flamingo Park to Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London at City Hall yesterday.
The revised scheme to build a home ground, community facilities and 42 new 100% affordable housing units on the site has huge local support.
The new proposal again was approved locally by Bromley Council on the 13th March by an overwhelming cross-party support of 11 to 3 and has now been referred to Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London and the Secretary of State for ratification.
The club submitted a previous application for the site of Flamingo Park back in 2016, this was approved locally by Bromley Council however was later refused by the Mayor.
Instead of fighting the public enquiry the club decided to withdraw and to instead submit a new proposal addressing all the Mayors previous concerns.
The new scheme has been created through consultation with the London Borough of Bromley Council and the Greater London Authority and in comparison to the previous scheme features:
• A reduction in developed area on the site
• A reduction in residential and commercial floor areas
• A reduction in height of buildings
• An extra community football pitch
• More Green Belt openness
• 100% affordable/social housing
The club have received widespread support for the scheme, including from The Football Foundation, the Kent FA, Sport London, local residents, fellow football clubs, local cross-party Councillors, our constituency MP, local schools, resident’s associations and community groups.
Almost 600 people wrote to Bromley Council in support of the application and yesterday more than 1,000 additional support letters were delivered to Sadiq Khan, James Murray, Jules Pipe and Fiona Twycross.
Cray chairman Gary Hillman said: “I hope the Mayor, Sadiq Khan, can appreciate the technical merits of the revised scheme and recognises the strength of positive feeling from our community towards the benefits that our proposals would deliver.
“We urge the Mayor to champion our cause and grant approval for the application which has already been approved by overwhelming cross-party support by the local Bromley Councillors.
“I would also like to sincerely thank our incredible fans and our local and footballing community for their incredible support through the last 12 years of planning applications.”