“We who live here, our voices should be important” • The answer: “I want to do the best I can for the park”
Långbroparken in southern Stockholm is an old mental hospital park set up in British style. TV chef and restaurateur Fredrik Eriksson runs the Långbro inn there, which is located in the old chief medical officer’s residence.
Now he has plans to build housing near the famous restaurant, on a plot of land he bought after the inn was established. Today there is a café that is rented out and a car park.
– Now we feel that we want to take a new step with the plot. In today’s plan, there is a building for care and daycare. Neither we nor the city of Stockholm think it is particularly good, so we have designed a new cafe that is more contemporary and better than the one we have. And to the twelve townhouses, says Fredrik Eriksson.
“Nothing that would reduce the housing shortage”
Fredrik Eriksson defends the building plan by saying that the city of Stockholm is asking for more housing and says that there is a great demand especially in the park. But he has faced a lot of criticism. So far, over 800 people have signed a petition with the goal of stopping the construction.
One of them is Raven Josephine Lawrence, 49, who herself lives in the park.
– If this building plan is approved, it means another exploitation of an already exploited cultural historical park and there is nothing that would contribute to reducing the housing shortage with the twelve townhouses, in relation to the damage they would cause to the cultural historical environment, she says and expresses her concern for wildlife.
– It is a disproportionately large intervention on a small area so close to the dam, the heart of the park, which would have a negative impact on the park’s environment. The pond also houses a rich seabird life that would be negatively affected, says Raven Josephine Lawrence.
She continues:
– We who live here believe that our voices should be taken into account and that the park should be preserved as the cultural-historical area it is, instead of being exploited further.
Raven Josephine Lawrence is critical of the planned construction
Raven Josephine Lawrence is critical of the planned construction
Has not been hammered through
At the same time, he is aware that hundreds of people oppose the building in the petition.
– There are quite a few and everyone gets to have their voice, so to speak. While I know that many of those who have signed this list also live in the establishment that was made 20 years ago. So if you were to preserve the plot completely or the park completely then you would not have done any construction at all.
Whether the townhouses will become a reality or not, that still remains to be seen. Nothing has been hammered through yet.
– Well, we had a consultation meeting on Monday, and not many questions came up, and then written questions and requests must be written to the city of Stockholm, says Fredrik Eriksson and adds:
– I want to do the best I can for the park at the same time as Långbro inn is an important part of the park, partly as a restaurant, also as a workplace. We’ve been there for 20 years this year and added a lot to the park, I hope this will too.