Scheme to improve Verulamium Park lakes and adjoining meadow is approved
A major scheme to make lasting improvements to Verulamium Park’s artificial lakes and an adjoining meadow has been approved.
The project will provide new wetlands, nature walks and plant beds where native species can thrive.
Among the aims are enhancing the water quality of the lakes, improving biodiversity and making the area more attractive to visitors.
One feature will be the dredging of the heavily silted lakes with silt recycled to provide highly fertile planting areas around the edges.
Councillors on the Public Realm Committee of St Albans City and District Council, which owns the park, approved the scheme at its meeting on Tuesday 28 January.
The project will likely cost a seven-figure sum with the Council previously having set aside a £2.2 million budget for the work.
Councillor Helen Campbell, the Committee’s Chair, said afterwards:
This is a landmark moment for the Council and everyone who loves our flagship Verulamium Park.
I am thrilled that we have at last agreed a sound and exciting plan for an area of the park that is in need of improvement.
The next stage will be commissioning detailed designs and putting the work out to tender to see if it is indeed affordable.
This has been a complex and challenging task, not least because of the financial constraints upon our budget, but with this plan in place I know our residents will be delighted to hear that we are making substantial progress.
The Council had been looking at various options for improving the area around the lakes and Bell Meadow which is beside the park’s St Michael’s Street entrance.
Bell Meadow is a flood plain and the ground is often under water or waterlogged. It is currently closed for safety reasons as parts of the footpath were persistently flooded and slippery underfoot.
The lakes were built more than 80 years ago to a design that would not be allowed today.
One possible option, supported by the Environment Agency, was to return the Ver to its natural path as it flows through Bell Meadow.
A working group, set up to look at options, has ruled this out as it would cost between £4m to £6m, well beyond the available budget.
The group’s preferred option, accepted by the Committee at its meeting, is to retain the river in its current channel, but create a wetland in the meadow along with a permanent, raised footpath.
Both artificial lakes will be narrowed by planting beds created around the perimeter, using extracted silt. Nature walks will wind through these areas.
Cllr Campbell added:
I know our residents are keen to see this area of the park improved, but I would warn this is a long-term project and it will be a few years before it is completed.
The goal is to transform this area of much-loved Verulamium Park and create new wetlands, footpaths, wildlife habitats and nature walks. It won’t solve the flooding as the area is a floodplain, and with climate change we are getting more and more deluges of rain.
This means we have had to adapt our project to these conditions in order to make improvements that are sustainable.
We have now agreed on an imaginative and realistic option and can move forward, finalise detailed plans, gain the necessary permissions and put the work out to tender to see if it is within our budget.
The Council has been working with partner organisations, including the Environment Agency, on a project to ‘Revitalise the River Ver’ as it flows through central St Albans.
Work will start shortly on restoring the Ver, a rare chalk stream, to its more natural state in a stretch from Ye Olde Fighting Cocks pub to the Cottonmill allotments.
Cllr Campbell added:
The Environment Agency, which has a responsibility for rivers, will continue to support our work on Bell Meadow and the lakes. This will be our project, though, rather than a joint one as the river will be largely unaffected.
Photo: Verulamium Park.
Media contact: John McJannet, Principal Communications Officer: 01727- 819533; john.mcjannet@stalbans.gov.uk.