Hot on the heels of being named the best place to live in the UK, the luscious and leafy London Borough of Richmond is set to welcome another public green space to their already reather impressive collection of parks and gardens.
Richmond Council have recently approved plans to give a previously unused piece of land in Hampton a bit of a makeover. Oldfield Road Meadow is a 0.6 hectare site, sat behind a primary school, which was originally acquired by the council as an educational space. Over a decade later, the land is no longer needed by the school, and so Richmond Council’s environmental committee has agreed to transform it into a public open space.
The brand new park will feature a ‘micro-forest’ (which involves planting trees close together so they grow quickly), a children’s play area, public paths, and new vehicular and pedestrian access points. The eastern side of the park will be kept free from footpaths and turned into a nature reserve. The date on which planting and renovation will begin has not yet been announced.
A report by Richmond Council said: “The site in its current state is not open to the public but there have been instances of unauthorised access through a hole that was made in the chain link fence. By opening the site to the public and encouraging it to be regularly used by the local community in a positive way, the project will discourage crime and antisocial behaviour.
“The proposals will align with the key aims of the Corporate Plan creating a greener borough through enhancements to the nature conservation interest to the site, a safer borough by discouraging crime and antisocial behaviour in the area and a fairer borough by improving access to public open green space for the local residents.”
