Walthamstow Reservoirs cover an area of 200 hectares on the western edge of the borough bordering Hackney, Haringey and the river Lea. It is an internationally and nationally recognised ecological resource and wildlife habitat as well as providing drinking water for London’s residents and fishing.
Waltham Forest Council has raised £8m of funding to develop the area, owned by Thames Water, as a free, publicly accessible wetland, with amenities and facilities for school students to engage with the environment. It will become Europe’s largest urban wetland.
London Wildlife Trust has been appointed to oversee the development. This will include renovating the historic engine house, close to Ferry Road, and the Coppermill, off Coppermill Lane. Work is expected to be completed by 2017.
This project has the potential to enrich our community. But Left Unity believes that capitalism’s incessant search for profit poses a grave and imminent threat to the world’s ecosystem. Despite the efforts of the ‘climate sceptics’ to downplay this threat a large proportion of people are now questioning the logic of such a destructive system. As such any effort to preserve our environment and to build an understanding of how we interact with it is very welcome.
Our draft environmental policy details our assessment of the ecological peril and the radical proposals necessary to remedy it.
More info can be found at www.leamarsh.com
Project updates should be posted on the Council’s website
The Coppermill, September 2014
