In July 1947, the London County Council (LCC) declared Bermondsey a reconstruction area and, as part of wholesale post-war regeneration, approved the idea of extending Southwark Park to the river. The idea of a link to the river pre-dated the Second World War by a few years, but the post-war need to reconstruct gave this aim more resonance.
In January 1948, the LCC Planning Committee endorsed the policy of a park by the river at King's Stairs riverside.
Putting the policy into practice proved to be a slow business because of a combination of objections from, among others, Bermondsey Council and local businesses. For instance, in 1953, the County of London Plan was subject to an Inquiry, and the Bermondsey and Rotherhithe Chambers of Commerce objected to the park extension.
In 1960, the LCC approved a design for the King's Stairs riverside walk, which was opened in November 1962. In January 1963, the LCC approved the name King's Stairs Gardens.
In 1964, the LCC agreed to a grassy area to the south of The Angel public house. Again, the implementation seems to have been delayed due to financial constraints, and it was not until 1968 that the Greater London Council (the successor body to the LCC) reappraised the site and agreed to three green space additions. These were finally completed by 1982, and it is in that form that King's Stairs Gardens still exists today.
Queen Elizabeth II's Jubilee 1977
For the Silver Jubilee of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II in 1977, a memorial stone was unveiled by Her Majesty on the banks of the River Thames in King's Stairs Gardens. To coincide with the summer 2002 restoration works in nearby Southwark Park and to commemorate the Golden Jubilee, a new memorial stone was unveiled in King's Stairs Gardens by the Earl and Countess of Wessex. The Earl and Countess returned in 2012, on the occasion of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, to unveil an additional inscription.[1]
Conservation and Thames Water plans
Thames Water named the park in September 2010 as one possible site for works as part of the planned construction of the Thames Tideway Tunnel, but following a consultation process and a vigorous local campaign ("the Save King's Stairs Gardens Campaign), Thames Water decided against using the site, choosing Chambers Wharf instead.[2]
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article King's_Stairs_Gardens, and is written by contributors.
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