Water levels in Wanstead Park reach alarmingly low levels

Wanstead Park is a fascinating place to visit, as thousands have found out over the months of lockdown. There are always new natural developments to see. Recently, I made a new discovery, walking along the road side of the Shoulder of Mutton pond -an area of young oak trees. Most have grown up in the last 20 years, extending the fantastic tree cover in the forest. Rewilding has become popular over recent times but has been a way of life across much of Epping Forest for some time. The latest exciting development will see cattle re-introduced to the park. Something though of ongoing concern is the state of the lakes. The water levels have been declining for many years now. The five lake system, when created, saw each supplying the other thereby keeping the water levels constant. So the Basin on the golf course should flow into the Shoulder of Mutton, which then fills the Heronry, which goes onto the Perch pond before the final stretch through the Dell into the Ornamental lake. Over the years, the system has broken down. The Heronry and Ornamental both leak. The link between the Shoulder of Mutton and Heronry is at best problemmatic. Over recent years, it has only been via a licence with the Environment Agency to pump water from the bore hole near the tea hut that the levels have kept up at all. The priority being to keep up the levels in the Heronry. Recently, the dry spell has seen tne lakes dry out to unprecedented levels. It seems incredible that only eight months ago the banks of the Roding were breached and the area flooded. The lakes were then brimfull. It is though the flood risk that most concerns the park's custodians, the City of London Corporation, and the Environment Agency (EA), The latter have declared there to be a significant flood risk, which the Corporation are statutorily bound to address. The flood prevention plan is duly moving ahead at a cost of in excess of £10 million. It is hoped that this together with the Park Plan will address some of the water issues.This work though is not due to start for several years. In terms of the situation with the lakes, there seem to be a number of options, The first would be to restore the original structure, addressing leaks in lakes and blockages on flow routes. This though, would be very expensive, so is unlikely. Another possibility would involve some interchange with the River Roding. River levels are rising with the advance of climate change. The EA already have a scheme on the drawing board to prevent flooding from the Roding. Surely, Wanstead Park could become a safety valve, whereby some links could be put in, allowing water to over run into the Ornamental and other lakes at times of excess flows. Beyond such crisis times, there could be agreement for some refill of the lakes from the Roding as an ongoing process. There used to be an exchange via the old pumping station, though this now stands redundant. Some of these ideas may already be under consideration, as part of flood planning. Let's hope so. What is for sure is that the situation with the lakes in Wanstead Park and the relationship with the River Roding needs addressing. The present sticking plaster approach can only last for so long and recent months have shown some of those plasters are beginning to come off.