£67m revamp for Crystal Palace park

Plans for a major upgrade of Crystal Palace park are being unveiled today.

They include a new sports centre and Olympic-size swimming pool that will be buried under grass and the redevelopment of the park.

It is promised that almost 180 homes will only be built around the park's fringes if the £67.5 million package cannot be funded from other sources, including the Lottery.

Crystal Palace, created in 1850s to house the Great Exhibition after it moved from Hyde Park, has suffered years of decline because of a lack of funding. Its National Sports Centre passed to the Mayor's control last year and his London Development Agency has the option of taking over responsibility for the park in 2009.

Over the next fortnight, the agency will submit a 15- to 20-year masterplan to Bromley council, with proposals including:

Building a museum with viewing tower and a new café and information centre beside the Grade I-listed stone dinosaurs.

Planting a grid of trees and creating a treetop walkway.

Installing two tropical glasshouses at each end of restored Italian terraces.

Reducing the dominance of roads and "turning tarmac to turf ".

Restoring the maze and adventure playground.

The Grade-II*-listed sports centre would be retained but the main swimming pool closed to create an additional "dry" sports arena. The new sports centre would have a grassed roof to blend in with the landscape and include a sports hall, health and fitness centre and café as well as the 50metre pool. At present, much of the building is closed while a £4million refurbishment takes place until next June.

The agency says the changes will increase the amount of publicly accessible land by 39 acres.