The strip of green space between Streatham and Brixton should be joined up to create a new 1 mile long park in Central London
If you look at a map of South London, between Brixton and Streatham, there is a strip of green space that runs more or less unbroken from the South Circular in Streatham to Brixton Town Centre.
The elongated park is called Rush Common and is the remainder of a much larger Rush Common that was originally created in 1806. There is some good local history on how it has changed over time but the crucial thing is that despite mixed ownership it’s still very difficult for people to build on.
What is Rush Common like now?
The majority of Rush Common is open to the public. Where it is it is often wonderfully used. Including two children’s parks, community spaces, and a public orchard(!) a stones throw from Brixton McDonald’s.
Overall though, Rush Common is less than the sum of its parts because bits of it are enclosed for private use. By my count there are 36 plots of private land that interrupt the flow of Rush Common and prevent it from being a continuous public park that would run for over a mile alongside one of Central London’s busiest A roads.
Those 36 plots are a mixed bag. Some of them are very narrow gardens that are seemingly impossible to make any use of. In other parts, sections are overgrown, or simply fenced off and not used at all. Where the land is used, it is generally for inefficient parking that could be provided further away from the main road and closer to people’s flats.
What could Rush Common be?
Some effort is made to make Rush Common as good as it can be. Part of it is described as Rush Common ‘Woodland Walk’ which is described as running from ‘Brixton Orchard to the top of Brixton Hill.’ But we should do more.
All of those 36 plots of land should be made open to the public to create a new Central London park. There would be a range of benefits:
- More public green space in an area of London where lots of people don’t have their own and where pollution levels regularly breach legal limits.
- Creating a sheltered walking route alongside a polluted and busy stretch of road.
- It might also help to extend a protected cycling lane from the planned route on Streatham Hill down to Brixton. A new cycle lane could run along the inside wall of Rush Common for instance.
As the map below shows, it would also be a genuinely ambitious addition to a densely populated part of South London.
That transformation wouldn’t necessarily be easy. A small part of Rush Common is interrupted by buildings and shops. One of the plots of land is well used — outside Brixton Hill Methodist Church. And the land is — as far as I can tell — genuinely private. While it’s called ‘Rush Common’, it was never legally common land.
But wanting to start the transformation should be straightforward. In particular Lambeth Council should aim to open up the two plots of land just south of St Matthew’s Church.
Opening up the church grounds and improving the design of the pedestrian crossing on St Matthew’s Road would open up the centre of Brixton, meaning Rush Common would at least run continuously from Windrush Square to the row of shops between Josephine Avenue and Arodene Road.
Let’s make it happen!
Restoring Rush Common along Brixton Hill in full would take time, negotiation, and some investment. But it would mean the public space in a busy part of South London could become more than the sum of its parts. I’d love to work with people who want to make it happen.
