This project provides an opportunity to create river and wetland habitat in an urban context and re-establish the park as an area of high quality green space for public enjoyment, whilst contributing to reduction of flood risk.
The London Borough of Croydon’s strategic key aims were:
- To transform Wandle Park from a well-loved but rundown urban park into a multi-use, high quality green and blue space.
- To restore the River Wandle which will become the central focus of the scheme.
- To restore several of the original Victorian features and provide an understanding of local heritage within the community
- Provide flood alleviation in the surrounding area of the Park
- To enhance the existing facilities and to add new facilities to cater for the contemporary needs of the park’s community.
- To accommodate the anticipated increase in demands on the park with the imminent opening of a large residential development adjoining the park.
- Improve biodiversity and access to nature in an area of deficit in access to nature through river restoration and diversifying the planting schemes
Wandle Park is one of Croydon’s most historic parks. Laid out in 1890 on former meadows alongside the River Wandle, the park included an ornamental lake, bridges, bandstand, bowling green, tennis courts, meandering paths and the river at its heart. By the 1960s, the park was in decline. Rapid urbanisation in Croydon affected the water table causing the water level in the lake to drop and the River Wandle was exposed to extreme flows after storm events causing localised flowing. Thus, in 1967 the lake was filled in and the river culverted and buried beneath new playing fields.
However the ‘lost’ river remained in people’s memories. After being buried for 40 years, the thinking behind river catchments and flood alleviation began to change and the idea of restoring of the River Wandle in Wandle Park gained an increasing level of local support.
The Environment Agency included the River Wandle at Wandle Park within its strategic flood alleviation plans for the entire Wandle catchment area in south east London, and worked with Croydon Council to progress design scenarios with its engineers, Royal Haskoning, as part of this project.
The masterplan recognised the new river channel as the central focus of the park to be enjoyed by all its visitors, and proposed to link faded Victorian and 20th century features to reinstate Wandle Park as the borough’s flagship park. The historic features have been restored and the river has been de-culverted providing a water course in the park once again connecting in to the a further stretch of deculverted river and green space on the adjacent Barratt site.
