An infra red photo of a small pond in Claybury Park in the spring

Author Alan Simpson

More posts by Alan Simpson

Join the discussion One Comment

  • Alan David Simpson says:

    When the 176 acres of Claybury Park were officially opened by the Duke of Gloucester in 2010, this became the largest new public park created in London for more than a century. Yet, if the M12 motorway had been built as planned in the 1970s, the park would not exist. Instead, the land would have disappeared under an eight-lane motorway. In the end, the motorway was not built and the land remained available for other uses. Claybury Park comprises ancient woodlands, an orchard, former farmland and Humphrey Repton-designed parkland. The once arable land has been re-landscaped to create an area of undulating open grassland and scattered trees with water features and permanent paths. The whole area also has a management plan to achieve a balance between public access, habitat value and historical landscape.

Leave a Reply