Save Lea Marshes campaigners warn of car park ‘threat’ to green space

Supporters of Save Lea Marshes rally on Hackney Marshes earlier this month. Photograph: Eleonore de Bonneval

Campaigners determined to stop the Town Hall ‘paving paradise’ in Hackney Marshes have stepped up their fight against controversial car park schemes.

Supporters of group Save Lea Marshes held a rally ahead of a planning sub-committee meeting set to retrospectively consider granting permission for a 60-space car park in East Marsh.

A second car park is planned for North Marsh, and the campaigners fear this could pave the way for more controversial events like last year’s council-backed BBC Radio 1 Hackney Weekend, which led to fencing off of public land for weeks and raised no money for the Marshes’ protection, instead costing the Town Hall tens of thousands of pounds.

Save Lea Marshes member Kev Dovey said: “We need to assert our ancient rights. This is common land and should remain so.”

Hackney Marshes form part of a wider area known as the Lea Marshes (ie Hackney, Walthamstow and Tottenham Marshes) that is managed by the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority and is famous as a destination for sportspeople, dog walkers and wildlife enthusiasts.

Hackney Council’s leisure chief Councillor Jonathan McShane said the Town Hall’s plans would result in fewer vehicles using the Marshes than have done so in the past, but Save Lea Marshes says it has been nearly ten years since there were so many car parks there.

The planning sub-committee meeting is taking place on 9 September.

Pressure to stop ‘land grab’

Dog-walkers, cyclists, bird-watchers and others who enjoy one of London’s most prized green lungs converged on the Marshes early this month as part of a battle to ‘save’ the famous outdoor space from commercial encroachment.

Pressure group Save Lea Marshes organised the rally to hit back at what it describes as “the ever-increasing threat of development and inappropriate use from the authorities who are looking to utilise the Marshes for financial gain”.

The group is concerned about Hackney Council’s application for permission to construct a 60-space car park in East Marsh – a development viewed as a land grab by opponents.

Counterintuitively, this car park already exists (see related link below), but Save Lea Marshes’ supporters intend to bring what pressure they can to bear on councillors to remove it.

The council’s car park plan is backed by leisure chief Councillor Jonathan McShane, who in a statement on the Hackney Council website insisted the council values the ‘special’ nature of the Marshes. The council is also backing plans for another car park in North Marsh.

Cllr McShane said: “In terms of parking, our overall proposals would result in 357 parking spaces compared to 490 in the past with 156 new bicycle parking spaces.

“There are a number of reasons why we want to see some car parking to serve the East Marsh when it is returned.

“It will limit on-road parking and congestion for local residents at busy times, make the East Marsh more accessible to people with disabilities and provide easier access for emergency vehicles for the occasions when people playing sport are badly injured.”

Lee Valley Regional Park Authority also criticised

In addition to fighting the council’s plans, Save Lea Marshes has voiced criticism of the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority (LVRPA).

Save Lea Marshes opposes the creation of lucrative new attractions including a fenced-off summer campsite on a former golf course, which they regard as another example of open land being blocked off from the public.

A LVRPA spokesperson said: “The Authority’s statutory responsibility is to develop and manage the park for recreation, sport and leisure and our plans for the area are in line with this role.”

The spokesperson said the golf course had been making a financial loss and it was ‘not viable’ to continue providing an activity that was so underused, adding: “Introducing camping to the site has meant we have substituted one recreational activity with another.”

Last month Katja Rosenberg, an artistic co-ordinator commissioned by the LVRPA to take part in a mural project on the Marshes, gave back her fee, resigned and wrote a letter to the Authority citing concerns about ‘over-development’ of the green space.

The LVRPA’s spokesperson said: “The mural on the marsh project has been successfully completed by 12 artists from East London and led by local artist Fabien Ho of FabsterNation. It’s a pity that Katja decided not to continue her involvement with the project but we hope that she will attend the official launch on Saturday 7 September.”

Related: 

Save Lea Marshes’ suspicions well founded

Outrage over Hackney Council plans for yet another car park on Marshes