Friends of Alexandra Park raised £24,337 from 427 donors. The boardwalk plan for Bruce's Platform is now with Haringey, decision due 11 September.

A plan to build an accessible boardwalk through the wetlands in the south-east corner of Alexandra Park is now formally with Haringey Council, three months after local donors raised more than twice the money the project asked for.

The application, reference HGY/2026/2172, is for the “construction of a boardwalk in the south-east corner of Alexandra Park”. It was validated on 13 August 2026 and sits on the council’s public planning register with 11 documents attached.

It is a full planning application in the Alexandra Park ward, to be settled by a delegated officer decision rather than by committee. The council’s target decision date is 11 September 2026.

The money came in fast, and then kept coming

The Friends of Alexandra Park and the Alexandra Park and Palace Charitable Trust launched a Crowdfunder appeal on 13 May, announced by Haringey Council the same week. The target was £10,000 by 15 June, with every £1 donated matched to £2 by an anonymous funder.

The target went in early. A stretch target of £20,000 followed, and that went too.

The Crowdfunder page records a final figure of £24,337 from 427 supporters. Alexandra Palace’s own account of the campaign puts the closing total at £24,315, before Gift Aid.

The Trust has set out where the money goes:

  • the first £10,000 pays for the accessible boardwalk itself, through the middle of the wetlands to Bruce’s Platform
  • everything above that starts a further phase, replacing and upgrading the footbridges that cross the wetlands and run on through the woods

Work on the boardwalk and the bridges is scheduled to begin in autumn or winter 2026, according to the Trust.

Timeline of the Alexandra Park wetlands project: phase one funded by £50,000 from the Mayor of London's Rewild London Fund, completed early 2025; crowdfunder launched 13 May 2026 with a £10,000 target; £20,000 stretch target reached; campaign closed 15 June 2026 on £24,337 from 427 supporters; planning application HGY/2026/2172 validated 13 August 2026; Haringey target decision date 11 September 2026; construction scheduled for autumn or winter 2026
Graphic by Crouch End News

What a boardwalk is actually for

Bruce’s Platform is the middle birdwatching platform in the park’s south-east corner. It is a well-used spot, and for much of the year the ground around it is the problem rather than the platform.

Patricia Moody, chair of the Friends of Alexandra Park, said: “By installing a boardwalk, we are opening access to the wetlands, making this beautiful part of the park accessible to every member of our community.”

Mark Evison, head of park and environmental sustainability at the Alexandra Park and Palace Charitable Trust, said: “The wetlands are becoming an increasingly important natural habitat within Alexandra Park, supporting biodiversity and improving climate resilience across the site.”

The Trust’s own description is more specific about who gains: families, older residents, dog walkers and people with mobility needs, all of whom currently lose that route in winter.

This is phase two, not the start

The wetlands in the south-east corner are not accidental. They were built.

Phase one was funded by £50,000 from the Mayor of London’s Rewild London Fund and finished in early 2025, the Trust says. That work cleared overgrown woodland, cut new water channels and pools to hold water on site, and repaired drainage.

The point was practical as well as ecological. Holding water in the wetlands is meant to keep it off the park paths, which flood in winter. The Trust says it is still applying for grants towards the remaining parts of the scheme.

The timing is deliberate on the Friends’ side. The group has looked after the park for 20 years this June, and it has treated the boardwalk as its anniversary project.

What it means for you

  • You can comment on the application. Search HGY/2026/2172 on Haringey’s public planning register. The register carries the consultation dates and the 11 documents submitted with the plan.
  • The decision is due by 11 September. It will be taken by a planning officer under delegated powers, so there is no committee meeting to attend.
  • Nothing changes in the park yet. Construction is scheduled for autumn or winter 2026, and it depends on permission being granted.
  • The site is the park’s south-east corner, the wetland area completed in early 2025, where the existing birdwatching platforms stand.
  • The Friends are still recruiting. Membership, conservation work parties and guided walks on birds, bats, moths and trees are all listed on the group’s site.

Alexandra Park sits between Muswell Hill, Wood Green and Hornsey, and the W3 bus and Alexandra Palace station both stop at its edge. Our things to do in Crouch End page covers the park and what else is open nearby, and Crouch End planning news tracks the applications that change this area.