Huge Park Outside London Envisaged

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30499, 22 July 1964, Page 12

Huge Park Outside London Envisaged

(N.Z. Press Association —Copyright)

LONDON, July 21. A plan published today aims at the conversion of 2500 acres of water and 1210 acres of land into a park on London’s doorstep. It would form a 20-mile stretch of lakes and parks. The scheme, which would take 10 years to complete and cost £3O million, is centred on the Lea Valley—runing from north to south through rural Hertfordshire through the East End of London to the River Thames. No-Man’s Land

Today the last 20 miles of this valley is a squalid no-man’s-land of rubbish tips, marsh arid gravel tips, said the “Daily Herald.” If the plan were implemented there would be sailing, rowing, cruising and water ski-ing. The plan also entails a museum, maze, aquarium and two artificial ski slopes.

There would be about 40 acres of botanical gardens, 420 acres of playing fields, 130 acres for motor sports, two boating villages and week-end accommodation for 1500 people. In the 20-mile park would be 17 restaurants, 50 cafes, 30 public houses, six golf courses, three golf driving schools, five swimming pools, a cycle track, a permanent fairground and circus. The “Daily Herald” said that also planned were more than 20 sports clubhouses, two dance halls, two and a half miles of continuous riverside walk, bird sanctuaries, a children’s farm and arts centre.

The plan has been drawn up by the Civic Trust, which among other jobs preserves and creates open spaces. The trust said the Lea Valley

scheme was for Londoners to “eat, drink, flirt, lounge, read, gossip, build, destroy, watch, play, work, shave, cook and sing.”

Transport within the park would be by toll roads, miniature trains, travelators and a monorail. The project, commissioned by 18 local authorities and drawn up by the Civic Trust, will have its first airing today when it is presented before Prince Philip, the Housing Minister (Sir Keith Joseph), and the trust's president (Mr Duncan Sandys).