Our Open Spaces In October
By Clare Graham, Chair, Open Spaces Committee
Time to: have your say on improving Latchmere Rec, record the nature in your own back garden, take a virtually-guided walk in Battersea Park - and watch our Coronation Year Tree burst for the first time into autumn colour.
Latchmere Recreation Ground: First Phase Public Consultation
Consultation notice at the entrance to the Rec. Photo © the author.
Please do take a look at the current public consultation for improvements to Latchmere Rec. Wandsworth Council has found £497,163 to refurbish the playground and create of a new east-west pathway beside it (plan below). You have until 6 December to respond to the survey online; additionally, if you're able to get down to the Rec this Saturday (26 October), Enable will be holding a drop-in Q&A session in the playground between 10.00 and 14.00. The Open Spaces Committee has already put in a positive response. We look forward to seeing the popular playground refreshed with new equipment designed to allow more children to play together simultaneously. The new path (plan below) also feels to us like a good idea. At the moment, the only through route on the western side of the Rec passes via the playground. That can be awkward at busy times, both for wanting to cut through from Burns Road to Battersea Park Road on foot, and for the families in the playground. Also, nobody with a dog can use the shortcut at present, since park bye-laws ban dogs from playgrounds. So this new path should help improve general visitor flow through the Rec, as as well as improving playground safety.
Plan showing the proposed new path, in blue. © Enable LC.
On Your Street
On Your Street survey. © Enable LC.
Do you have your own garden? Private domestic gardens are an important potential resource for local biodiversity; they cover a whopping 716 hectares in Wandsworth, 20% of its total area. Which means that if you haven't already done so, our local biodiversity team at Enable LC would be really grateful if you could fill in its On Your Street survey before that closes at the end of October. By recording what you've seen in your own garden over the last year you'll help them, and Greenspace Information for Greater London (GiGL) to understand how these spaces support local biodiversity, and to identify local green corridors and areas of connectivity.
Nature Trails
Nature Trails publicity image. © Enable LC.
Enable Parks would also love you to explore its latest new initiative: a series of podcasts offering guided walks through Wandsworth's larger open spaces, as recorded by members of its Parks Team. Go to Nature Trails to download 'an immersive audio-guided experience ... a fresh and engaging way to explore Wandsworth’s most beloved green spaces.... Nature Trails uncovers the fascinating vibrant ecology, characteristics and stories behind King George’s Park, Wandsworth Park, Wandsworth Common, Battersea Park, and Tooting Commons.' While I haven't had the chance to listen myself yet, I am happy to vouch for the expertise of narrators Ling, Neil, Mick, Millie and Catie - all regular contacts of the Open Spaces Committee.
Our Coronation Year Tree
The Battersea Society Coronation Year Tree, in Falcon Park. Photo © the author.
When we planted a Battersea Society Coronation Year Tree in Falcon Park back in December 2023, this fine young liquidambar was bare of leaves. It's been a pleasure to watch it grow and flourish since then, aided of course by all 2024's wet weather. It's just begun to colour up for autumn; liquidambars put on a spectacular autumn show of reds and oranges and yellows, one reason why we chose one. If you fancy checking it out for yourself, you'll find it at the Cabul Road/ Latchmere Passage end of the park, near the point where the two paths heading toward the artificial pitches merge.
The tree - colouring up for autumn. Photo © the author.