As regular readers will know, over the past few years we have tried to share regular updates relating to the complex web of maintenance and improvements required at Wanstead Park in Epping Forest.
As we have slowly rebuilt our Officer team, Committee Members and Officers have attended AGMs, informal discussions and tried to make ourselves available to a wide range of local stakeholders to build better partnership working. I’ve also used my website to share a range of updates on the topics and projects which people have told me they care most about (May 2025, December 2024, November 2024, September 2024), in addition to the Epping Forest and Commons Committee Chairman’s monthly updates available here.
Epping Forest’s new part-time Wanstead Park Projects Officer is doing and excellent job in meeting regularly with local stakeholders to keep them updated on progress and ensure that their knowledge, skills and views are all being leveraged where possible.
This week I had the pleasure of joining some of our Officers, supported by a brilliant team of volunteers, in litter picking the Ornamental Water lake bed.
As everyone is aware, the man-man Ornamental Water was never designed to sustain water without human intervention year-round. Climate change has had a significant impact on water retention in the Park, not least during long summer droughts when the water evaporates and the clay lining cracks, allowing vegetation to grow. That, in turn, makes the cracks deeper and wider, so that when any water returns, it escapes more quickly.
The Conservators have been consistent with the message that we don’t know if we can save the Ornamental Water. There is a long list of actions which would all need to work to facilitate success, not least including the Environment Agency permitting manual extract of water from the River Roding over winter when the Roding has excess water available. A decision, which even if it is agreed, is not sustainable in the long-term.
I join with the many voices who have described the sadness they feel when visiting the Ornamental Water dry and overgrown, when it has been such a beauty to behold and an important part of the Park’s heritage for generations.
The Conservators have agreed to give the lake one final chance so, as many people have seen, specialist equipment has been brought in to remove all the vegetation over the past few weeks. Interestingly, the machinery used is bomb proof, in case of any old unexploded ordnances lying dormant (thankfully there were no issues with this!)
Now that all of the vegetation has been cleared, it was a good opportunity to remove the thousands of discarded items thrown into the lake over the years. I expected the fishing equipment and the huge volume of golf balls (given the proximity to Wanstead Golf Club), but the tires, the huge amount of plastic waste and the large metal poles were a bit of a shock.
Epping Forest’s Officer team were on hand to carefully document any historic artefacts discovered, like some interesting old bottles, coins and stone slabs.
With more than 40 bags of litter collected, it was certainly a worthwhile session, made all the more enjoyable by the comradery amongst the volunteers.
Whilst in the Park, I managed to see the scaffolding going up around The Temple. As a reminder, the Grade II listed building is in need of minor external works including repointing the brickwork and roof. The windows, timberwork and the portico will also be repaired and redecorated. It should take about 6 weeks to complete, but the toilets will remain accessible to visitors throughout.
The Woodland Play Area has thankfully now completed its refurbishment to replacing broken and redundant equipment, rebuild and firm-up the climbing mound, install a hard surfaced path and add in a new accessible nest swing, to support those with different abilities.
Work is also continuing at pace on the Grotto. This Grade II listed building is undergoing work to consolidate and stabilise its structure to remove it from the Heritage At Risk Register (HARR). This work is likely to continue until at least the end of 2025.
The ‘Map Tree‘, one of the famous Cedars of Lebanon has been suffering from root damage caused by the growth in visitor volumes walking. The new fence around the tree is now in place, so we hope we can continue to enjoy this landmark tree for a few more years to come.
Finally, I was reminded by Don Taylor, one of our long-standing litter pickers, that his Epping Forest annual calendar is now on sale at the Epping Forest Visitor Centres in both Chingford and High Beach.
The price has remained frozen for the past 3 years at £10 for an A4 copy and £12 for an A3 copy. All of the photos have been taken by local people who love Epping Forest and want to share some its beauty with others. Best of all, all of the proceed go to charities which support Epping Forest.
My thanks to Don for his continued support and to all of the contributors to this wonderful project. Epping Forest simply couldn’t operate without the support of so many loyal volunteers. Undoubtedly, the 2026 calendar will be the stocking filler that all of my family will be receiving this year (with my birthday circled in case they forget!)
