I've just discovered the beautiful Abney Park, a combination of 19th century cemetery, woodland, and wildlife sanctuary. One of the seven grand cemeteries created on the outskirts of London in the 1800's. The architects created it as an arboretum with 2,500 varieties of plants. Lack of funds saw the park fall into disrepair and go into administration during the 1970's. The London borough of Hackney took it over in the 1980's and have been working to restore the park to its former glory.
However, in this time of "profits rule" developers want to come in and build on the edges of the site. The plans include a huge car park, supermarket and of course high rise apartments. The 20% of promised "affordable" apartments will be in the £400,000 range.
The locals are outraged and fighting the development which they say will have a substantial adverse impact on the biodiversity of the park. In addition they are concerned about the impact on the wider area, one of the few areas where independent stores are still thriving.
The locals are passionate about their park and have many activities throughout the year. This weekend this included teaching people how to make Christmas wreaths.
They would like your support. You can sign their petition here … you don't have to be a local to support this worthy cause.
10 comments:
Great picture!
Nice place for a park but the developers will win come what may. Money talks.
Sharon has some photos of London holiday decorations on her travel photo site today. It looks like British retailers started the holiday season as early as U.S. retailers.
This looks very much like Highgate Cemetery where I visited in November and it has a similar history.
I do wonder who calls 400,000 affordable.
What a fantastic place, duly signed & tweeted
The pressures of development on a big city like London must be intense. Good luck to this park's supporters.
Developers. Damn them.
The place looks very appealing.
I hope the locals win their battle. It's tough. What a loss it would be for London.
Glad to hear something's being done - I remember the cemetery from my student days when I lived in Leyton in a house which has now disappeared beneath road building schemes.
Thanks for all your supportive comments. You can all help the fight - it's important we get supporters worldwide to show how much the site is valued internationally. It's great if you sign the petition but even better if you write to the Secretary of State (in the UK) details of how to do so are here http://stokeylocal.org.uk/
A quick correction - the development will be on top of an existing car park, there won't be one on the new development. The current car park is better for wildlife than the planned development as it doesn't damage trees or block sunlight and foraging paths.
I know there are some famous churchyards around, but so fare I have never visited any of them in or outside London. Perhaps I should try that... On the other hand I love parks like Trent Park and walks around Kenwood House/Hampstead Heat.It always impress me how many people who are involved in volunteer jobs, one way or the other, in the UK.
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