Park BenchNews from around the London Parks
Lottery Cash for Lambeth and Newham
Both projects have received Stage 1 Passes, with £1.5m budgeted for major work at Myatt's Fields Park and £1.9m for Central Park, Newham. In September, Central Park received its first-ever Green Flag (see Awards story). The Mayor of Newham, Sir Robin Wales, led the celebrations on Saturday September 24th by raising the flag, assisted by park users, community groups, community forum members and volunteers. Barking Park, LB Barking & Dagenham, is awaiting a Stage 1 Pass decision. £4.6m for Strawberry Hill
In 2003, the World Monuments Fund included Strawberry Hill, created by Horace Walpole, son of Sir Robert Walpole, on their list of '100 Most Endangered Sites in the World'. It also featured in the second series of BBC2's Restoration series. It is also on English Heritage's Buildings at Risk Register. The Grade I listed house is today under the stewardship of St Mary's University College, a teacher training college and part of the University of Surrey. The World Monuments Fund is backing the campaign to raise a further £3.5 million to ensure the project can go ahead. Completion is anticipated in 2010. Kew Palace Work Near EndSPECIALISTS have been hard at work this summer restoring Kew Palace in Kew Gardens. The Palace will reopen to the public next spring, ten years after it was closed to the public. Around £1.75m has been raised from private benefactors and foundations since the campaign to refurbish the palace began. The project had already received £2.5m from the Historic Royal Palaces charity and £1.6m from the Heritage lottery fund towards its £6.6m target. Jubilee Gardens: West 8's Winning DesignA LUSH, organic area with "softly undulating hills" and flowers blooming throughout the year has been chosen as the design for the new South Bank Jubilee Gardens. A design competition was won by landscape architects West 8. Ted Inman, chair of the Jubilee Gardens Steering Group which chose the winning idea, said: "The standard of entries exceeded our expectations but overall West 8 successfully captured the imagination of the judging panel whilst performing very well on key technical, financial and project management criteria. "West 8 has cleverly balanced the numerous demands on this site by conceiving a garden which is not only a visual landmark worthy of its position in central London but also a space which local residents and employees will enjoy." New Life for Historic Gardens at Fulham PalaceHammersmith and Fulham Council have commissioned York and London-based practice the Landscape Agency to prepare a landscape management plan and landscape strategy for the 10-acre historic gardens at Fulham Palace. The Grade I listed site has been home to the Bishops of London for more than one thousand years and was leased by the Church Commissioners to the London Borough in 1973. The Heritage Lottery Fund has recently awarded a £3m grant to restore the Grade I listed building and works are due to be completed next year. Dr Scott Cooper, the council's Director of Fulham Palace, has commissioned this landscape report to coincide with these works. The Landscape Agency's management plan will draw on a wealth of historic research in order to inform future proposals whilst accommodating the needs of its users. The plan will be completed by January 2006 and will involve detailed site surveys and an intense consultation with interested parties and local groups. A programme of new planting, clearing and tree works will start this winter. Get Your Skates On!DUST down your ice skates and get twirling at one of the many ice rinks on offer in London this winter. The following sites have skating available at the dates shown:
Additionally, for the first time this year, Somerset House will be offering the more adventurous (over 14s only) a chance to climb an ice wall. Full gear and instruction provided. More information at www.thisistheatre.com/iceskating.html Homes Plan for Crystal Palace ParkCONTROVERSIAL plans, endorsed by Mayor Ken Livingstone, to build 180 homes on Crystal Palace Park have met with opposition from Green Party leader Darren Johnson. The London Development Agency (LDA) - the Mayor's Agency for business and jobs - will take over the lease of the National Sports Centre in March 2006. It plans to build a new sports centre near the railway station in time for the Olympics in 2012. Other plans for the park including improving entrances, increasing open parkland by a fifth, car parking, restoring the maze and a new piazza inside the Norwood Gate. But it is proposals to fund part of the work by building houses in the park which has enraged Johnson. He said he welcomed the overall vision for the park but did not accept the need to sell parts of it for housing. The LDA will take over the running of the national sports centre from LB Bromley next March. They then have an option to take over the park in 2009. Visit www.crystalpalacepark.org.uk for full proposals. Reedbeds for St James's ParkNEW reedbeds have been planted this autumn around the lake in St James's Park. Reedbeds are shallow water habitat that support a rich mix of plants and wildlife and the reeds also help keep the water clear by absorbing excess nitrates and phosphates. The reedbed project was developed as a joint initiative between The Royal Parks and the London Biodiversity Partnership and has been sponsored appropriately enough by publishing group Reed Elsevier (UK) Ltd. As well as backing the project with cash, teams of volunteers from Reed Elsevier took turns to help plant the areas alongside the new reedbeds over three days in September. A number of small reedbeds were previously established
and Nigel Reeve, Community Ecologist for Royal Parks comments, "We
are seeking to build on this success and create a much larger reedbed to
enhance both the landscape and the ecological quality of the
lake." Mark Gough, Environmental Coordinator of Reed Elsevier, said, "We are proud to be involved with this project." He explained that the company's 5000 London-based staff can each take two paid days a year for voluntary work and that previous campaigns had included tree-planting in southeast London, helping disadvantaged children read, and other education-based projects. Among the volunteers in September was James Peer. "It will be nice to come back to St James's Park in a few years to see the difference," he said. 59 Green Flags for LondonFifty-nine sites in Greater London have won Green Flag awards for 2005.
The successful London parks were among 322 winners nationally when the awards were announced in September. Winners vary from Victorian parks and town-centre gardens to nature reserves, country parks and cemeteries. Sites must be judged to be welcoming, safe and well maintained with the strong involvement of the local community. The City of London Corporation, which manages not only many open spaces within the City but also major outdoor leisure areas outside London, such as Epping Forest, Hampstead Heath, Burnham Beeches and Ashtead Common, won a total of 14 Green Flags. It is not just local authority managed parks that have won flags. Glendale Grounds Management, which manages parks for the LB Lewisham won five Flags, and CIP Group won three Flags for parks it maintains in the LB Hounslow. British Airways plc wins a Flag for Harmondsworth Moor. Small Parks Win 'Street Awards'THE Street Design Awards presented by Local Government News are now in their eighteenth year. Sponsors include CABE Space, GreenSpace, the Royal Town Planning Institute, the Worshipful Company of Paviors, the Association of Municipal Engineers and British Waterways. This year the Urban Green Space category for new or refurbished small parks or wayside gardens was won by the LB Lewisham for Ferranti Park and Sue Godfrey Nature Park. Although the site has two distinct parts, it was conceived, designed and implemented as one project. The whole scheme formed part of a wider regeneration plan for the Creekside area, formerly an old salt depot subjected to vast quantities of fly-tipped material. The £450,000 project was completed in 2005 after two years of public consultations and urban framework studies. Lewisham Council was keen to exploit the site's potential for residents, and involved the community at each stage. The park was designed to incorporate an open area of mown grass suitable for children with a wide age range. The Council was careful not to attach a specific use for the grassland so it can be used all year round for informal ball games and community events. An open pavilion also provides a space for outdoor performances or a covered meeting point for residents. The old walls which enclosed the salt depot were replaced with planters. A local artist was employed to create stainless steel rails, adding character to the site. Placement of shrubs and trees also defines spaces and retains end-to-end visibility for pedestrians. A Commended award went to the LB Borough of Newham for Stratford Park, where developments included a new bandstand and a children's play area divided for different age-groups. Sarah Green Joins English Heritage London TeamSARAH Green has joined the English Heritage London Region team - replacing Drew Bennellick as Regional Landscape Architect. Sarah previously worked for Essex County Council as Senior Landscape Architect and has been chair of the Essex Gardens Trust for the last three years. Sarah says she is very much looking forward to finding out more about London's designed and historic spaces with the help of the LPGT. Her first career was as an archaeologist, and she retains a practical interest in the uses of archaeology in historic landscape research - for example, in researching the evolution and design of cemeteries, the subject of her MA dissertation for the Architectural Association school of Architecture. Drew Benellick has been promoted to Head of Regional Partnerships. |
Trust NewsWinter Draws On!Chair Barbara Simms writes: The first Winter Lecture has come and gone and the heating is on in the Trust office at Duck Island Cottage. These are two sure signs that Summer is really over - despite some deceptively warm days that we have seen this Autumn! October was also the month that Trust members received the tenth anniversary issue of The London Gardener together with a printed, bound and fully cross-referenced index of all the articles that have appeared in the Journal in the last ten years. Congratulations and thanks to Todd Longstaffe-Gowan and Sally Williams for continuing to produce a scholarly and entertaining publication, which reflects the high standards, research interests and conservation concerns of the Trust. Discovery Pilot Completed
The pilot phase of this web-based resource to raise children's awareness of their local historic green spaces was completed in the Summer in the boroughs of Enfield, Greenwich, Newham and Wandsworth.
Pupils of Furzedown School on Tooting Common Deborah Jarman, the Project Officer has produced a detailed and informative report charting the set-up, progress and findings of the project, in which children 4-11 years in 19 schools participated. The topics of the sessions requested and delivered included Looking at Military Graves, Looking at Playgrounds, Meet a Tree, Wildlife in Our Park, Wildlife in Our Playground, Celebrations in the Park, Looking at Gates, Measuring Trees, What's In Our Park?, History of West Ham Park, Tree Identification, Playground Design, Geography of Plumstead Common, History of Broomfield Park and Grovelands Park. Interest in the project was also generated by the display of children's work on the website and the production and distribution of a termly newsletter Let's Meet in the Park. The analysis of over 500 evaluation sheets completed by participating children produced insights into children's attitudes to parks which will be incorporated into bids for further funding. Quantitative data showed that the majority of younger children (4-7 years) who took part in the project were already park users with their families; and not only had a positive view of the work involved in the project, but also viewed parks as inviting and enjoyable places to be. Their qualitative comments, in answer to the question 'What did you learn?' showed that they had already begun not only to absorb factual information (e.g. how to do tree rubbing) but also attitudes (e.g. 'I learnt... a lot about parks and not to pick the leaves'; 'The red bins are the dog bins'; 'A park is a fun place to have a picnic and play'). The finding that children 4-7years are positively predisposed to parks is of key relevance to those seeking to change attitudes to green spaces. What did you learn?Children 8-11 years were also regular park visitors, viewing their value primarily for activities such as sports, dog-walking and socialising with friends (rather than as heritage sites). In addition to learning about trees and wildlife in the parks and gaining an understanding of the historical dimension, this older group's responses to the question 'What did you learn?' also highlighted positive attitudes towards the care of local communal spaces. Responses included:
Confidence IncreasedResponses to the question 'What do you feel more confident about?' also produced some insights into children's attitudes to the natural environment, as well as demonstrating that controlled and positive experiences can encourage the development of positive attitudes. Confidence was increased in...
Importantly these comments also indicated that, depending on their background and culture, some children view open spaces as friendly and welcoming places for recreation and enjoyment whilst others see them as potentially hazardous, full of unknown dangers, both human and natural. Thank you, DeborahThe Trust has been delighted with Deborah's imaginative and confident work on this project, which has placed the Trust in a unique position to maintain and expand delivery of the educational programme based on the resource. Fingers crossed for further funding! Seeking New Sites for Open Garden Squares Weekend
Top of the agenda for OGSW development officer, Sarah Jackson, is to expand the number and range of sites taking part in the event, and she is keen to recruit volunteers to help with the search. "We are hoping to bring on some 50 to 60 new sites over the next two years, and embrace gardens across the whole of Greater London. Volunteers are vital, both in looking out for potential sites and in providing feedback on gardens in different areas," explained Sarah. Private institutional, commercial and communal gardens in all parts of London are welcome to take part in Open Garden Squares Weekend. The event, which began in 1998 to give access to private squares in central London, now aims to embrace a wide range of little-known and hidden green spaces across the capital, and to celebrate the diversity of the capital's cultures, history and environment. The OGSW Development Project also wants to hear from volunteers who would like to help with producing a range of leaflets and booklets which will boost the educational value of the event. If you would like to get involved or find out more, ring Sarah Jackson on 020 7973 3473 or email email her LPGT London Gateway ConferenceKaty Myers writes: The London Parks & Gardens Trust, the Essex Gardens Trust and the Kent Gardens Trust are currently involved in organising a conference on the proposed development of the London Gateway. This follows concern at the lack of consideration for designed landscape in the Government's plan. Designed Landscapes and the Thames Gateway.. Past, Present, and Future will take place on Thursday 4 May 2006 - please keep this date for your diary! |
HERITAGE Lottery Fund money has been earmarked for
Myatt's Fields Park in LB Lambeth and for Central Park, Newham.
THE future of Strawberry Hill, Twickenham, where the
LPGT hosted the Association of Gardens Trusts Annual Conference in 2003,
is looking decidedly brighter, thanks to a £4.6m grant from the
Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). The award, which has been made to the
Strawberry Hill Trust along with £370,000 development funding, will
help to finance an eagerly-awaited £8.2m restoration project.
The
Green Flag Award scheme is the national standard for parks and green
spaces across England and Wales. The award is managed by The Civic Trust
on behalf of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Green Flag
Advisory Board.
The traditional park is a key feature of the London Parks Discovery
Project on-line at 
A
two-year project to develop Open Garden Squares Weekend, the LPGT's
flagship event, got under way in July with help from HLF and English
Heritage.