More than 1,700 people have signed a petition urging the council to continue with its plans to restore Kennington Park’s historic skatebowl and make it safer to use.
The change.org petition is calling on the council to fulfil its promise and make improvements to the popular 1970s skate bowl, known to many as the ‘Kenny’, which campaigners say has fallen into decline.
Local group the Friends of Kennington Park (FoKP) say the council did have money set aside for the work, but is now considering withdrawing the funding from the project.
Guy Howard-Evans, a local resident and almost lifelong skateboarder, wants the local authority to keep its promise. He said: “It would be really handy to get the council on board and to get a rolling maintenance as well but because it’s been left to neglect, it’s just become a bit of a tip.
“There’s lot of broken glass and no real maintenance, it’s suffered and to get it nice and safe again for all kids to use – it has to be means-tested across the board so it’s open to everybody.”
Guy says only around two-thirds of the bowl is actually skateable and it can currently only be accessed through one entrance and exit.
A Lambeth Council spokesperson said in light of the council’s financial position, capital projects including the skate park have been paused. They went on to say they are reviewing all projects and hope to update resident groups about them soon.
Dave the Chimp, a street artist who has been skateboarding since the age of 12, said the reason he moved to London was he saw his idol, Mark Gonzales, at Kennington Skatebowl.
Dave, who now lives in Germany, said: “I used to love going there, it was my happy place, there used to be a bunch of skateparks that we would go to, but Kennington was always the happy place.
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“It was different enough that it was also challenging and it was surrounded by trees, it was cool and a good place to hang out.”
He added: “There’s no other construction like that anywhere in the country, I think it’s unique and should be repaired for skateboarding.”
The petition, launched by FoKP, has amassed 1,704 signatures and has been backed by Skateboard GB, the governing body for skateboarding in Britain.
FoKP says the restoration plans include adding a spectator area and ramped access, as well as clearing the trees and bushes around it, which will bring it back into the park. The group said in order to secure funding for the bowl, it agreed to move money across from other development projects, and for more than a year it had been working towards making the project a reality.
The project has been years in the making, and was scheduled to start in the summer of 2024 however FoKP says it was later told the work would begin in November of that year.
As the months went on, the group says it chased the council several times for updates but did not hear back.
In July 2025, the council announced a freeze on capital spending, which has resulted in the project being halted.
FoKP fear the project is at risk of being abandoned, and that the skatebowl will be left as “an unsafe, decaying eyesore”. The group is calling on the council to return to the project and reinstate the funding, adding that lots of public money has been spent on it already.
Guy said the skatebowl became a special escape for him during lockdown when he was furloughed and had just become a new parent.
Guy said: “I went every day to Kennington Bowl, it was kind of my escape – I just knew no one else was there and with social distancing it was my sanctuary.
“With that I started to clean it up, I regularly started sweeping it up for the other skaters and I to make it a bit safer because it’s a leaf trap and the drainage is really bad as well.”
When Guy was researching the history of the skatebowl, he discovered it was built by Lorne Edwards, who sadly passed away during Covid-19.
Known as “the grandfather of British skateboarding”, Lorne was a leading figure in many of the UK’s concrete skate parks that are still around today, and he also built Stockwell Skatepark.
Guy said: “I kind of felt like I was doing this in remembrance of him, just by humbly cleaning out the bowl and looking after it for a bit and making it nice for other people.
“I will continue to go there to skate, to take my kids and to keep it clean because I kind of feel it’s paying honour to what is a historical skate landmark.”
A Lambeth Council spokesperson said: “In light of the council’s financial position, and our responsibility to ensure we can protect the frontline services relied on by our most vulnerable residents, capital projects across Lambeth have been paused.
“This includes the skate park, and other projects that residents across Lambeth feel very strongly about. All these projects are being reviewed, and we hope to be in a position to update resident groups about them soon.”
