What price green space

David Lloyd Clubs, which describes itself as "Europe's leading health and wellness group," is planning to turn the green space in the left-hand panel (photographed on 20 March 2026) into a car park.

Which would you rather see when you look out of your bedroom window? The view on the left, or the view on the right?

The image above shows the site in Stanhope Grove, Beckenham, which is in the suburban Bromley London Borough. The club opened in 1997 under the 'Amida' brand and underwent a major expansion in 2008. This expansion was approved by the local planning authority under a range of noise and pollution management conditions that included soft landscaping and boundary treatments to provide a visual and acoustic buffer between new outdoor amenities and nearby homes.

What this meant in practice was that the noisy comings and goings of members and their cars is mitigated by the raised green space seen in the left-hand panel. Now the club's owners, as part of an ongoing expansion plan, want to get rid of the soft landscaping and green buffer.

The after image is not how it will actually look, other than the total absence of the grassy bank, the noise and pollution barrier. All we know is that there will be lots more cars, lots more noise, lots more pollution, many more drivers hurrying to their gym sessions at all times of the day and evenings. At the same time, there will be no grass and consequently no insects, no birds coming to feed on them, and a general degradation of the environment and therefore quality of life for all local residents.

One way to imagine the difference would be to watch and listen to the short reel above. This video was recorded on a bright, sunny, spring morning. You can hear hundreds of birds chirping. I walk past this site most days and I wouldn't say it was the nicest green space in Beckenham/Bromley, one of London's greenest suburbs. Yet it is a green space and it won't be if it is trashed to make space for more cars. More cars and no birds... what will that sound like? Well, you can start by switching off the sound on the video, then imagine the sound of hundreds of cars coming and going, doors slamming, tyres screeching, engines running. I wonder what it is going to smell like and how many children walking by the club to go to school will develop respiratory illnesses as a consequence of the added pollution. I can only wonder, because neither the club, nor the local planning authority, have commissioned any kind of study into the effects of these plans on the local environment and on local residents.

David Lloyd Clubs has never made any attempt to engage with local residents over any of its plans. This is true, not only of the grand corporate profit plans, but also little (some might think) things like having a firework display.

I lived here with my family when the club was first created and I welcomed the move because the site was previously hardly used and was an eyesore. The 2008 development clearly showed a level or community responsibility, though I suspect that was more a requirement of the planning authority than it was a desire of the money-men at DLC.

My view is that further expansion has to be considered alongside the environmental and community cost. On which basis, here are my suggestions for improved traffic management for the club.

Encourage members to walk, run, scoot, roller skate, take public transport or share a car ride to the club. Surely this is more conducive to health and wellbeing that creating a massive traffic burden on the local community?

Set up a booking system, including a nominal charge, for car parking space.

Hand over the management of the car park to the local authority, which employs experts at traffic and parking management.

Instead of building a massive car park at the front of the building, remove one of the sports courts or other non-green areas at the back and put the car park there. This would not only take the problem away from the residential area at the front, it would reduce the number of people (and therefore cars) that needed to visit.

I am sure local residents could come up with many more practical ideas to improve traffic management and parking at the site without having such a devastating effect on their quality of life. Trouble is:

Nobody asked us!

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If you are a resident of Beckenham or other districts in Bromley London Borough, please raise the matter with your local councillors. A decision on the David Lloyd Clubs proposed development is now imminent.

David Lloyds Clubs has been asked to provide a comment