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 December 2012

• BTCV and local residents are continuing to create the biodiversity features including leaf stores and loggeries.  They are also 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.
• Working with the community on design and installation of dragon fly picnic bench and seating for “park within park” – progressing.  Workshops to be carried out in January for community to design mosaic and individual tiles for table top.
• Additional pieces of play equipment installed and proving very popular, as is the outdoor gym – reports of regular users making use of it daily.
• Picnic benches installed – one by play area and one by Saxon Ave entrance – a popular area for families to gather
• Off Saxon Avenue a terraced area created, with paved paths slopeing down to river.  Retaining walls built with gabions and filled with logs from site and slats on top, can be used as seating.
• Fruit and nut trees will be planted with community groups and BTCV in January by classroom and on either side of play/fitness area
• Further tree work along river ongoing with added benefit of opening up the river to improve habitat and also opens up views to both sides creating a one park feel for Crane Valley Park – the overarching aim of the project.
• BTCV have planted a hazel coppice opposite classroom, children from local schools planted up 40 hazel trees and 800 bluebell bulbs
• New bins, benches and picnic tables installed on both sides
• Birds and Bat boxes installed both sides
• The outdoor classroom has been built with seating, blackboard and biodiveristy features for local schools to use during school trips and for families to enjoy all year round.  Local school children are designing and building an insect hotel to add to this area
• In the coming months there will be leaflets produced for the park and a fun fact sheet to use on cycle loop as well as carved bench route
• Currently designing welcoming signage for main entrances, which will be installed next year

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).