Colne Valley Regional Park

The Colne Valley Regional Park is 27,500 acres (43 square miles) of parks, green spaces and reservoirs alongside the often multi-channel River Colne and parallel Grand Union Canal, mainly in Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire, with parts in the London Borough of Hillingdon, Berkshire and a small area in Surrey.[1]

The Grand Union Canal is within the park.

High Speed 2 will pass through the park on a viaduct. In October 2017, activists set up a protest camp at Harvil Road to oppose the construction of the 2.1 miles (3.4 km) long Colne Valley Viaduct for High Speed 2.[2][3] The activists documented alleged environmental damage by HS2 workers over an eighteen month period, voicing concern about the destruction of wildlife habitats and the possibility that an aquifer supplying drinking water might be affected.[4] In May 2019, the Woodland Trust called for the clearance of trees at Colne Valley to be halted.[4] A prosecution against two women for aggravated trespass collapsed in July 2019 because HS2 Ltd could not prove it owned the land in question. In January 2020, HS2 began evicting the protest camps.[2] A couple living in a farmhouse on the route of the railway lost a seven-year legal battle in July 2020 and were compelled to move out after HS2 Ltd compulsory purchased their home on Dews Lane.[5]

Geography

Much of the landscape is relatively flat – the lower reach of the Colne forming the centre of the park. Almost all the land is only 16 to 42 m (52 to 138 ft) AOD,[6] with a mixture of soils, including occasionally wet, loamy soils and clayey soils, and a small amount of naturally slightly acid heath.[7] Passing through the park is the Colne Valley Trail or Colne Valley Way, which forms a major section of the London Loop and connects to the Hertfordshire Way north of Watford.

East of the village of Denham, and west of the villages of Cowley and Harefield, and the town of Uxbridge, the Colne Valley regional park contains a mixture of farmland, woodland and water, 50 miles (80 km) of river and canal and over forty lakes, which help to regulate the flow of the major Thames tributary and provide fish for angling. The park is a regionally important place of recreation and is internationally important for wildlife. Large areas are open to the public or accessible through a network of paths.[8]

Paths stretch from Staines in the south to Rickmansworth in the north through the alluvial meadows in the valley of the River Colne. Popular attractions include Black Park, Chiltern Open Air Museum and the conservation area of Little Britain by the Grand Union Canal, Cowley.[8]

Elevations nearby range from 90 metres (300 ft) AOD on steep hillsides in Harefield, Denham and Rickmansworth, to 16 metres (52 ft) at Staines Moor.[9]

In the south, the area includes Staines Moor, the Staines Reservoirs and the King George VI Reservoir. The reservoirs support nationally important wintering populations of tufted ducks, pochard, goosander and goldeneye.[8]

Sub-areas

The park includes Denham Country Park, which is a Local Nature Reserve, and Frays Farm Meadows and Denham Lock Wood, which are Sites of Special Scientific Interest managed as nature reserves by the London Wildlife Trust.

Colne Valley Park

Notes and references
Notes
  1. Under creative commons licence by Julian Osley
References
  1. "History of the Colne Valley Park". Colne Valley Regional Park. Archived from Colne Valley Regional Park is 27,500 acres (43 square miles) of parks, green spaces and reservoirs alongside thestory.html the original Check |url= value (help) on 2013-07-25. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
  2. Taylor, Diane (7 January 2020). "HS2 begins evicting activists from protest site after two years". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 13 June 2020. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  3. Wareham, Stephanie (24 January 2018). "Campaigners criticise HS2 plans for 'one of the longest viaducts in UK'". Bucks Free Press. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  4. Peracha, Qasim (13 May 2019). "Woodland Trust warns HS2 forest clearance must stop at Ruilsip". MyLondon. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  5. Harris, Simon (28 July 2020). "Couple lose seven-year battle to save their dream home from HS2 bulldozers". ITV News. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  6. Archived 2013-10-29 at the Wayback Machine Ordnance survey website
  7. "Cranfield University National Soil Resources Institute". Archived from the original on 2013-06-02. Retrieved 2012-11-27.
  8. "Colne Valley Park". Colne Valley Regional Park. Archived from the original on 2010-02-26. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
  9. "Grid reference Finder measurement tools". Archived from the original on 2018-01-29. Retrieved 2020-07-29.
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