Invertebrate survey at Gunpowder Park, the former Royal Ordnance Site in the Lee Valley
of the River and its adjoining lands as a recreational park. Their report, published in 1964 and
entitled, "A Lee Valley Regional Park" was accepted by the local authorities and under the
Chairmanship of HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, the scheme was launched. It was agreed to promote
a Bill in Parliament for the establishment of a separate statutory authority to develop the area.
Following Royal Assent to the Lee Valley Regional Park Bill in December 1966, the Lee Valley
Regional Park Authority was formally constituted on 1st January 1967.
The Regional Park stretches along the River Lea from Ware in Hertfordshire to East India Dock
Basin on the bank of the River Thames, opposite the Millennium Dome. The Park occupies an area
of some 10,000 acres. Of this, the Authority owns or manages over a third. The Park Authority has
a remit to regenerate the valley for leisure, recreation and nature conservation.
One of the most exciting examples of the Authority's regenerative role has recently been completed
between Waltham Abbey and Sewardstone. Gunpowder Park has been created from 220 acres of
formerly industrial land. The land was previously owned by Royal Ordnance and used for the
manufacture of products for military purposes. The processes involved in their manufacture led to
contamination of the land with a variety of toxic materials. After closing, the site was subjected to
complete decontamination by Royal Ordnance. This involved removing all buildings, most vegetation
and large amounts of soil. Following decontamination the site was 'capped' with a layer of London
clay.
Over the past five years, the Lee Valley Regional Park has transformed that bare clay into Gunpowder
Park, which was opened by HRH the Duke of Edinburgh in summer 2004. The rationale for the
restoration and creation of the habitats and landscape on the site were the Biodiversity Action Plan
and Landscape Strategic Vision for the Regional Park. The Park contains a mosaic of habitats wet
and dry grasslands, wetlands, ditches, woodlands and biodiverse farmland. Managed public access
is available on surfaced footpaths. Within a large area of wet woodland known as Osier Marsh, a
'Wet Woodland Discovery Trail' (part-funded through English Nature's Aggregate Levy
Sustainability Fund) provides opportunities to find out about the ecology and wildlife of this habitat
via boardwalks and interpretation. Lee Valley Regional Park Authority has created a special
partnership with Landscape + Arts Network (LANS) to develop and deliver an arts programme at
Gunpowder Park over the next five years. LANS is based at a new field station at the entrance to
Gunpowder Park. The partnership aims to provide new opportunities where arts led initiatives can
make a positive and dramatic impact on the quality of life and the sustainable future of our
environment. The Field Station located at the main entrance to the Park, is the headquarters for the
aits programme. The building functions as a state of the art creative studio for workshops, exhibitions,
seminars and special events as well as providing facilities for visitors to the Park.
The habitats created by the Regional Park arc already maturing to provide homes for a wide variety
of species. In order to plan the management of these habitats to maximise their potential for
invertebrates in the future, Peter Harvey was commissioned to survey the site during 2003. Peter
takes up the story......
90
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 21 (2004)