Crane Valley Park- Mayor's Help a London Park Programme

Project Update

The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and the London Borough of Hounslow are working together in partnership with the Greater London Authority, the Friends of the River Crane Environment, and the London Wildlife Trust to deliver the Mayor’s Help a London Park project.

Project update March 2012

• BTCV and local residents are continuing to create the biodiversity features including leaf stores and loggeries
• BTCV have been creating a series of informal woodland paths on the Hounslow side to open up otherwise inaccessible areas of the park. Volunteers from both sides have been working with BTCV on these various projects creating a real sense of community.
• Workshops took place in Butts Farm RHP office at the end of last year, designing and making tiles to be included on top of dragon fly picnic table mosaic - each unique to resident with his/her own design and initials. Workshops for over 55 club and for youth club have been well attended. These will be added to picnic table early March ready to be unveiled for public use.
• The outdoor classroom is completed with the insect hotel the last piece to be installed - this is being designed by two local schools green teams in a peer review project. There will be a day arranged once frame installed for both schools to come together and fill with recycled material for the insect hotel to provide habitat
• Signage is in the proofing stage and will be installed late March.
• Way markers being carved to install along dragonfly trail (3k trail) with rubbing discs on each marker (13 along route) each depicting a different ecology image – installation at end of March
• Outdoor classroom education pack for teachers and schools being finalised - will be available to download on our website and FORCE website at end of March.
• Two leaflets being produced - one for dragonfly trail with fun sheet for kids to follow and one walking leaflet linking up all carved benches along crane park
• Hedge and wild flower mix planted at Hanworth Road entrance and Saxon Ave entrance along boundary
• There is a family volunteer day on March 11th in Crane Park which will include, hazel coppice as well as fruit and nut tree planting with BTCV and local residents
• The official relaunch of Crane Park will take place on March 20th at 10am at the outdoor classroom (inside Hanworth Road entrance).  Cabinet Members for the Environment and ward Councillors from both authorities, a GLA representative, Friends Groups, stakeholders, local schools and council officers will all attend to celebrate the end of this two year improvement programme.

History

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson launched the Help a London Park scheme in 2009 as part of his commitment to clean up and improve the capital’s rundown green spaces.

The Mayor pledged £4 million for ten parks to be selected by Londoners following a public vote. The winners were announced by the Mayor in March 2009 and Crane Valley Park topped the poll. As one of the winning parks received a £400,000 thousand grant to make it a cleaner, safer and greener park which local communities want to visit.

Crane Valley Park is a cross-borough park which includes a variety of largely council-owned green spaces in the Crane Valley. This project focuses on the stretch from Craneford Field in Twickenham to Pevensey Road Nature Reserve, in the boroughs of Richmond and Hounslow.

The project will open up access to previously unwelcoming parts of the site, improving infrastructure and creating a stronger sense of identity for the Crane Valley Park. It will also help to link communities along either side of the river, encouraging them to enjoy a positive experience in the heart of a wonderful open space.

The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames is leading the project and is working closely with:

• London Borough of Hounslow
• Friends of the River Crane Environment (FORCE),
• London Wildlife Trust
• Greater London Authority (GLA)

The partners have established a Steering Group, which is currently working closely with the GLA on progressing the project.

Consultation

Thank you to everybody who contributed to the Crane Valley Park consultation. We have had a very good response from the public. Results of the consultation have been collated and presented to the Steering Group. You can stay informed about proposed work on the current information page

A significant amount of consultation has been carried out in Crane Park in recent years.

Previous consultation had identified six areas of improvement work, and images were presented for each of these offering a variety of designs and styles for the public to respond to. Posters were erected on site, information on all relevant websites, two drop-in days at local schools, a display at the Shot Tower, FORCE delivered to local residents and ward councilors’ and local groups (WTG) were all consulted. Over 250 responses were received both online & by post.

• Entrances (A Welcoming Park)
• Bridge/Paths (An Accessible Park)
• Seating (A Comfortable Park)
• Use of On Site Materials (A Natural Park)
• Biodiversity Features (A Wildlife Park)
• Signage (An Informing Park).