a day in the life of millfields blog....

Kicked off the day with a walk over to lea bridge waterworks for breakfast and to read the papers. We liked the quirky homemade bird feeders someone has put up in the trees nearby.

Headed off to the Millfields Users Group's open air meeting (picking up a blog contributor en route). Meeting was v. constructive and the new found harmony was only disturbed by a sizable chunk of a nearby plane tree crashing to the ground mid-meeting.


 




As we went on to Leyton marsh, we  spotted a couple of guys heading into the river Lea (one with a backflip) for a swim to the Anchor and Hope. Our v. obvious health warnings fell on deaf ears and instead we were asked by one to hold his credit card so it didn't get wet.

Arrived at the Leyton Marsh to lend support to the "Enough is Enough" protest against the damage done to our common land - the Environment Agency has confirmed the waste soil pile will need to be treated as hazardous waste.

We checked out progress with the Princess of Wales' long overdue makeover. It's being undertaken by Geronimo Inns (which is part of Young's) who run the Crown, Victoria Park, Bow which bodes well. It should be reopened in a couple of weeks - with a new kitchen promising much improved food.

We then spotted a woman sun bathing with her pet rabbit, Coco, in north millfields. 

Photo courtesy of Coco's owner (twitter @didyouhearthat).

A new tri-table tennis arrived in north Millfields yesterday afternoon. The table is the work of the Redundant Architects Recreation Association (RARA). Not sure how long it will be there for so do check out. 

We love living by Millfields!

Leyton marsh user forum meeting: 23 May 6.30pm

 

 

This Wednesday (23 May), Lee Valley Regional Park Authority are holding a Leyton Marsh User Forum at 6:30pm at the Lee Valley Ice Centre. 

 

It is open to all. 

 

It is really important that as many marsh users as possible turn out as this will provide the opportunity for people to have their say about happens to Leyton marsh (post Olympics). 

 

Lea Bridge Waterworks' Babes

The nature reserve at Lea Bridge Waterworks has some new additions. 

Food bags to feed the pigs are available at reception.  

How you can help protect Lea Bridge's heritage

The 'Lea Bridge Waterworks' once stretched across the eastern and western banks of the River Lea, south of Lea Bridge Road, including the Middlesex Filter Beds Nature Reserve; the Thames Water Depot; and the Waterworks Nature Reserve and Golf Centre. 

These sites together form a single historic industrial development area that  played an early and significant role in the development of London’s water supply from at least 1707.

The development of the Waterworks is of industrial, technological, economic and social significance in the story of London's growth over 266 years.

Many of the mill buildings, waterwheels, giant engines houses and soaring chimneys are long gone. Some of the filter beds, reservoirs and aqueducts have been drained or filled in. But what remains is all the more precious.

Except for the locally listed 'red house', the Waterworks has no heritage protection. 

A request to list the Waterworks as of national architectural and historic significance was therefore recently submitted to English Heritage.  

A research paper supporting the request, 'Lea Bridge Waterworks: A narrative history and the case for statutory listing on the grounds of historic and architectural merit' has been produced and will be available shortly.

If you treasure the heritage of this area; if you: 

• know something about the history of the Waterworks or the people who worked there; and/ or
• have mementos, old photographs or press cuttings,

then your views and insights will count when English Heritage consider whether or not to recommend listing.

You can write in or email  English Heritage in support the Lea Bridge Waterworks listing request.

The reference details are:

• Lea Bridge Waterworks Listing Request

• Reference Number 466306.

Email address: london@english-heritage.org.uk

book barge

We really enjoyed a look round the Word on the Water book barge down by Springfield Park today - there's a really good selection of books and we also loved the cat.  do stop and take a look if you're in the area.

Leyton marsh: Spot the Deliberate Mistake!

To help spread the Olympic spirit, the ODA has just launched a brand new game for the local community to play:

Spot the Deliberate Mistake!  

If you'd like to play, the press the link:  ODA letter.  

The winner of the game will be the person who identifies the most deliberate or misleading errors in the attached letter and layout plan.

 

How many can you spot?

 

Answers on a postcard to the ODA.  

Scroll down to the bottom of the page reveal our 'starter for ten' .....

A few suggestions you might want to draw upon

1.       The area occupied by the ODA construction area is not the same as the drawing. The plan is wrong.
 

2.       The drawing shows an oblong area, but the actual fence line includes part of the two access roads from the Sandy path: and the wheel-washing equipment is located in one of these areas. The plan is wrong.
 

3.       There is, of course, no open public access to these areas and the plan is misleading. Where the public is or is not free to go must surely be crystal clear: It is not.
 

4.       The name ‘Leyton Marsh’ is placed over Walthamstow Marsh.
 

5.       Walthamstow Marsh (the cow enclosure) is a SSSI where access is to be discouraged/care taken.
 

6.       The plan states that Leyton Marsh (actually Walthamstow Marsh) is a playing field: It is not. It is open space land.
 

7.  The plans shows a vehicle access route ‘open to public access’. Parts of theses areas are fenced in and not open to public access. Many of the disputes have arisen in these areas. 
 

8.       The use of the term ‘open to public access’ in relation to the sandy path and the two site accesses is misleading. These areas are in fact part of the open space and they should be open and free for all to enjoy for any normal open space activity (within the byelaws of the park): Free use of these spaces is actually very restricted. 
 

9.  The access route is in fact also a construction area, not just an access route, with JCB’s operating and digging, on the path and on the adjacent verge.

black path bodge

Despite our warnings about the dreadful changes planned for the black path, the Millfields Users' Group Committee have got what they requested - a bodge that has actually damaged the path.

In March, Hackney's Traffic Management Team (which has been clear it was working on instruction from MUG and Hackney Parks Dept) wrote to the Committee: stating "Just to reiterate, line mark removal is messy and very rarely will markings be fully removed. Some trace of a divisionary line will remain, as will the cycle symbols to be removed, and of course the green surface treatment will still be in place along the entire length".

The MUG Committee responded: "Yes, as you say, it's a bodge..... but we've been asking for this since 2008/9 so we're settling for what we can get."

Hackney insisted it couldn't afford to resurface the path to remove all of the markings. It does however  have funding for new wooden bollards on north Millfields that are not needed and which park users were not consulted on.