Access and user-priority issues in Wanstead Park and the Exchange Lands.

Sunday 8th of January saw a major transformation of the Grotto in Wanstead Park. After the enclosure was cleared in 1997/98 for an archaeological investigation by the Museum of London Archaeology Service it has been allowed to grow untended, so that in recent years it has become all but un-noticeable even if standing immediately adjacent to the metal fence that surrounds it, and even from the frontage-viewpoint across the lake.

A workforce of some 10 people comprising City of London Corporation staff, individuals and members of Wanstead Parklands Community Project in the space of a few hours in the morning radically cleared invasive ivy and bramble, and cut down sycamore saplings to reveal the Grotto once again. For more information on the work, click here.

The Grotto after clearance work in January 2011It was during this undertaking that I participated in a small way, then listened to, a discussion between a member of the Wanstead Parklands Community Project and a member of the Corporation staff about access issues in the Park. On the one hand it was suggested that any material used to surface path and trackways must be historically appropriate, and on the other it was stated that such material seems either to be not available or too expensive. Considering the state of paths in the Park, it seems that the latter argument - perhaps exacerbated by the former requirements - has led to the present state of affairs. I shall come back to that later, for it was my experience after the work project that led me to write these thoughts down.

Meeting with some ecologist friends who also share my enjoyment of walking in a variety of location ranging from town streets and parks to "wild" country, we took a walk into the Old Sewage Works, or Exchange Land, site adjacent to Wanstead Park. This has for long been a favourite area of mine for a relaxing stroll or to do some botanizing or photography. I can also claim to have been to some extent instrumental in the development of the site to its present condition when it became part of Epping Forest. It was indeed my suggestion as to broadly what sort of soil should be laid as a necessary cap to the old works, and even the six or so species of grass with which that soil should be seeded. (see here for more information)

Roding Valley Way signpost in Old Sewage WorksA few years ago I became concerned about the proposal that the Roding Valley Way joint cycle/pedestrian path be routed through the site. I pointed out that this wasn't strictly necessary, as a what seemed to me (as a past cyclist as well as walker) a perfectly good alternative already existed - albeit with a bit of very necessary tidying. This route simply followed the existing Bridle Path, alongside the City of London Cemetery and immediately adjacent to the sewage works. However, force-cycleur prevailed and the connection and signposts indicating the route of the RVW were erected showing it to pass through the site.

Then last year, I was persuaded that allowing horses from the adjacent Aldersbrook Riding facility to gently use a circular route within the site would be appropriate. I gave way, with my own proviso being that it would follow a proscribed route and would not begin to produce ankle twisters or sloughs, nor exercising or grazing off that route. As far as I was made aware, that would be the case, and suddenly without further discussion permission was given. I've since seen or been made aware of examples of horses being grazed on the parts of the site that includes some of the best ecologically for fine plants and butterflies, and a Shetland pony being exercised by a group of youngsters evidently playing at horse-training.

So here we go with my moans: We entered the Sewage Works site for our stroll and propitiously followed a horse-rider along the obvious route-ways within the site. It wasn't long before we pedestrians encountered the sloughs, and wild-country walking or not, my ankles don't like those. This was after 24 hours or so of almost continuous rain, so it was not surprising that the ground was in the state it was. Now, I understood that this riding was to be a summer thing, but was evidently wrong.

Less pronounced were the cycle tracks, but then this is Epping Forest and cycling is allowed, unlike adjacent Wanstead Park. Nevertheless  we found ourselves on three occasions stepping aside as cyclists went past. This is the sort of thing that one has come to expect on the towpaths of the Lea, but then I avoid those now. In  the short space of our walk there, this seems - unless there happened to be a cycling event that day - to be a dramatic increase in cycle-usage, and one which I feared.

So we touch on issues of priorities of usage here and I began to feel that my years-long quiet enjoyment in being able to stand on a track and look at the birds or the nearby plants have now become diminished. I am now a tertiary user.

Hedge cutting and pugging in Sewage WorksI wondered too who had permitted the major hedge-cutting exercise that has taken place along the main tracks on the site? A lot of  flailing of vegetation and skimming of ground surfaces had taken place along those "rides" used by horses. Much may recover, but what has been scalped includes the pretty corner where the Everlasting Pea grows, the sparse-grass area which supports amongst other things Whitlow Grass (not a grass but a tiny and scarce plant in this area), the track-side grass area where when I first got a digital camera I took a photo of a magnificent, still-present-last-year Mullein, all of  the track-edging where specimens of Stone Parsley grow (which is not known anywhere else in the area) and a stretch where there had been a rather nice example of the difference between a "common" bramble species and dewberry. I wondered again if anybody had taken an inventory of what was there before the work took place - and indeed who carried out the work! Just to add insult to this injury, I noted that on a particular considerable stretch, the orange plastic-fencing that was used whilst pipe-laying work was being undertaken had been exposed - no longer a fence of course, but now a mat. I'd pointed this out a year or Unsuitable track surface by Ornamental Watertwo back to Epping Forest Keeper staff who said that they'd asked for it to be removed; I hope it doesn't get entangled in a horses hooves - this might actually result in injury to insult.

 We went on then into the Park proper to walk up the east side of the Southern Arm of the Ornamental Water to view the newly-viewable Grotto from across the water. What a difference! The view, that is. What impressed me more was, after the interesting earlier discussion on access and track-surfacing, how we were slip-sliding on the porridge that has been used as a surface on the recently renovated pathway along here, having to step out of the way of bikes trying to make headway through same, and what the inside of my car looked like when we three eventually got back to it, having had the porridge re-enforced with the track-surface that has been laid - again recently - twixt Perch and Heronry Ponds. It takes me back to the discussion in the Grotto...

Paul Ferris, 9th January 2011