Park User Satisfaction Survey
Residents and park visitors can now share their feedback about the borough’s parks and open spaces by completing the council’s annual park user satisfaction survey, with feedback encouraged before the survey closes on Friday 4 September 2026.
Complete Park User Satisfaction Survey
The survey gives residents and park visitors an opportunity to share views about what matters about their local parks, woodlands and open spaces. You can also separately let us know about any specific problems in Bromley’s streets or parks by reporting these via the website.
The Council is custodian of 28km2 of green space in Bromley and we recognise the contribution that our large and varied open space portfolio makes towards Bromley being a great place to live, work and visit.
The park user satisfaction survey results are one of our key performance indicators for our parks management and grounds maintenance service, and your feedback helps shape the council’s decision making.
Last year for example, respondents were most satisfied with ease of access around parks (80%), grass maintenance (70%) and woodlands (68%), however 45% of respondents identified enhanced play areas as where they would like to see improvements if funding became available, with most respondents identifying activities for children as their main reason for visiting the borough’s parks.
In 2025/26, thanks to joint fundraising with Friends of Parks and the wider community, the Council was able to refurbish playgrounds in Hoblingwell Wood Recreation Ground and Churchfields Recreation Ground.
Through our now fully delivered £1m Platinum Jubilee Parks Fund, we have also made improvements to another eight playgrounds in 2025/26, including Biggin Hill Recreation Ground and Husseywell Open Space. The Fund has now delivered 64 out of 65 projects, with works to the final project at Shaftesbury Park due to complete in Summer 2026.
2025 survey results also told us that residents would like to see facilities in their parks improved. The replacement of the Kesely Park bridge, which completed earlier this year, represents a significant investment in maintaining and improving facilities in the borough’s valued green spaces, demonstrating commitment to high quality, safe and accessible infrastructure.
Work continues in partnership with Historic England and the Orpington District Archaeological Society on the second phase of restoration works for the Moated Manor at Scadbury Park thanks to a £434k grant from the Rural Payments Agency. Survey works are currently underway to support a grant application for further enabling and then conservation works, with the next phase of activity expected in the autumn.
Work also continues to improve waterbodies in our parks and open spaces. Following the award of £249k of funding from the Water Restoration Fund to design a project to improve the water environment for the ponds at Keston Common, survey and design work was completed in 2025/26, and the Council has been awarded a grant of £363k from the Green Roots Fund to deliver the first phase of works to improve the water environment, focussing on works to the Ravensbourne Pond.
Additionally, we continue to work with the Environment Agency to deliver improvements to the water environment in Crofton Wood with grant funding secured to continue development in 2026/27, as well as environmental charity Thames21 on improvements to the River Beck in Harvington Sports Ground and High Broom Woods.
We continue to look for funding opportunities to plant more trees in our parks and open spaces. Last year we worked with Bromley’s excellent volunteer community to maintain and replenish our newly planted microforests. We have also re-established disease resistant Elm Trees through new planting schemes at Chislehurst Recreation Ground, High Elms Country Park, Ravensbourne Open Space and Whitehall Recreation Ground, supported by the local Friends Groups and the Elms4London initiative.
We know that improving biodiversity continues to remain important to our residents. Our Nature Friendly Verges have shown strong biodiversity results with the number of floral species increasing from 80 in 2023 to 147 in 2025, alongside the presence of rare and protected plans. The new sites added in 2025 also showed strong early results
Our Sustainable Planting Trial has also shown a significant increase in biodiversity in its first two years compared to traditional bedding, with 94 invertebrate species recorded in 2025 (up from 48 in 2024).
In 2025, we reached the conclusion of our Countryside Stewardship agreements with Natural England and the Forestry Commission, with all management objectives established in 2021 successfully delivered. We are now securing new funding agreements for 24 countryside and woodland sites and encompassing over 400 hectares of land across the borough. The Countryside Stewardship scheme provides government funding to support land management that delivers enhanced environmental outcomes, including improved biodiversity, priority habitats and protection for key species.
In 2025, we achieved Green Flag Awards for 10 of our parks, with High Elms Country Park and Kesley Park being recognised with this accolade for the first time.
It is notable that many of the improvements we have been able to achieve have been made possible by working in partnership, with our Friends of Parks and other community groups contributing over 10,000 hours of volunteer work in 2025/26. We thank these groups for the material contribution that they have made to the quality of our green spaces, and you can find out more about becoming a Friend.