JUST A PRETTY LANDFILL? Northala Fields is an award winning Country-style Park located in Northolt in the London Borough of Ealing, which opened to the Public in September 2008. The Park won a Green Flag Award in 2009. The innovative £5.5 million project began in 2000 with Ealing Council’s decision to transform derelict land alongside the A40 in Northolt which was once Kensington and Chelsea playing fields. The redevelopment of the 45-acre area was a necessity, as the area had become an eyesore. The four large conical earth mounds along the A40 edge of the site also help to reduce visual and noise pollution and provide a unique landmark for the park and the borough. In particular, the viewpoint on the top of the tallest mound (which is 22 metres) provides a 360-degree panoramic view of the surrounding area. It offers quite dramatic views over London. The North of the view is dominated by the McDonalds, and much of the rest is generic London housing- but in the view of the Southeast the whole city of London even the far distance right through the docklands can be seen. The Wembley Arch can also be seen peeking over a nearby hill, which has conveniently covered the rest of the stadium from view. If you look carefully you can also just make out the London eye on the horizon, although at this distance it is difficult to see against the background sky. Northolt and Greenford Countryside Park Society are made up of the people from the local community. It ensures that the park is retained as an area of natural beauty, which is safe, enhances the environment and improves local amenities. Active engagement of local people has been important to the park’s success for example the local school children were involved in the design of the playground for which they now get to use. The park has also been praised for its disabled access. Panoramic views can easily be accessed on the third mound with the gentle spiralling sloped pathway made from a mixture of tarmac and crushed brick and gravel. There is also a good provision of benches throughout the park. However not everyone supported the construction of the park, one source claimed that Northala Fields was “an area of scrubland that used to have some nice biodiversity now supports nothing at all. A huge step backwards for the greening of London”. On the contrary the potential wildlife value of Northala Fields has been greatly improved with the re-modelling of the site from what was an unused sports ground to a brand new park. New areas of habitat have been created using native species, of local provenance where possible. The approach to the design of Northala Fields has been a careful balance of providing a significant contribution to biodiversity in the area, whilst ensuring that the design meets the requirements to minimise the potential bird strike hazard to aircraft from the nearby Northolt Aerodrome. Each mount has been created with varying soil conditions that supports wildflower and grass seed mix to give four distinct habitats. A number of the habitats that have been created at Northala Fields are identified within the Ealing bio-diversity Action Plan. These are: -Neutral and marshy grassland -Mound side wildflower meadows -Streams and swales -Woodland and scrub. The wetland habitat provides opportunities for wetland invertebrates including dragonflies and damsflies, while the diverse wildflower grassland provides resources for a number of terrestrial species of invertebrate. One local source is quoted questioning the purpose of Northala Fields. “Isn’t it still a landfill, just a “pretty” landfill?” The Northolt and Greenford Countryside Park society recruited a firm of consultants, led by landscape architect Peter Fink, who came up with a solution, which included the creation of four man-made hills on the south side of the carriageway. It would become part of a park called Northala Fields. Mr Fink realised that a number of huge civil engineering projects were about to get under way in west London, including the redevelopment of Wembley Stadium and a giant shopping centre at White City. Many were aware that the builders would need to get rid of large amounts of what is known in the trade as spoil or “muck away”. Mr Fink was quoted during an interview: “We offered to take all this spoil at our site, charging between £70 and £90 per lorry load, which meant the developers only had to haul it 10 miles rather than 100 miles to a landfill site”. This process reduced the overall ‘carbon footprint’ of sites such as Wembley and White City. Around 60,000 lorry loads of spoil and concrete was dumped on the site, which generated so much money the council actually made a profit out of Northala Fields. The spoil was used to create the four hills and the concrete was crushed and used to make gabion-walls surrounded by steel cages, which provides a spiral path up the tallest hill. Enviromesh have supplied 270 traditional welded-mesh g

• published: 02 Apr 2012
• views: 0

JUST A PRETTY LANDFILL? Northala Fields is an award winning Country-style Park located in Northolt in the London Borough of Ealing, which opened to the Public in September 2008. The Park won a Green Flag Award in 2009. The innovative £5.5 million project began in 2000 with Ealing Council’s decision to transform derelict land alongside the A40 in Northolt which was once Kensington and Chelsea playing fields. The redevelopment of the 45-acre area was a necessity, as the area had become an eyesore. The four large conical earth mounds along the A40 edge of the site also help to reduce visual and noise pollution and provide a unique landmark for the park and the borough. In particular, the viewpoint on the top of the tallest mound (which is 22 metres) provides a 360-degree panoramic view of the surrounding area. It offers quite dramatic views over London. The North of the view is dominated by the McDonalds, and much of the rest is generic London housing- but in the view of the Southeast the whole city of London even the far distance right through the docklands can be seen. The Wembley Arch can also be seen peeking over a nearby hill, which has conveniently covered the rest of the stadium from view. If you look carefully you can also just make out the London eye on the horizon, although at this distance it is difficult to see against the background sky. Northolt and Greenford Countryside Park Society are made up of the people from the local community. It ensures that the park is retained as an area of natural beauty, which is safe, enhances the environment and improves local amenities. Active engagement of local people has been important to the park’s success for example the local school children were involved in the design of the playground for which they now get to use. The park has also been praised for its disabled access. Panoramic views can easily be accessed on the third mound with the gentle spiralling sloped pathway made from a mixture of tarmac and crushed brick and gravel. There is also a good provision of benches throughout the park. However not everyone supported the construction of the park, one source claimed that Northala Fields was “an area of scrubland that used to have some nice biodiversity now supports nothing at all. A huge step backwards for the greening of London”. On the contrary the potential wildlife value of Northala Fields has been greatly improved with the re-modelling of the site from what was an unused sports ground to a brand new park. New areas of habitat have been created using native species, of local provenance where possible. The approach to the design of Northala Fields has been a careful balance of providing a significant contribution to biodiversity in the area, whilst ensuring that the design meets the requirements to minimise the potential bird strike hazard to aircraft from the nearby Northolt Aerodrome. Each mount has been created with varying soil conditions that supports wildflower and grass seed mix to give four distinct habitats. A number of the habitats that have been created at Northala Fields are identified within the Ealing bio-diversity Action Plan. These are: -Neutral and marshy grassland -Mound side wildflower meadows -Streams and swales -Woodland and scrub. The wetland habitat provides opportunities for wetland invertebrates including dragonflies and damsflies, while the diverse wildflower grassland provides resources for a number of terrestrial species of invertebrate. One local source is quoted questioning the purpose of Northala Fields. “Isn’t it still a landfill, just a “pretty” landfill?” The Northolt and Greenford Countryside Park society recruited a firm of consultants, led by landscape architect Peter Fink, who came up with a solution, which included the creation of four man-made hills on the south side of the carriageway. It would become part of a park called Northala Fields. Mr Fink realised that a number of huge civil engineering projects were about to get under way in west London, including the redevelopment of Wembley Stadium and a giant shopping centre at White City. Many were aware that the builders would need to get rid of large amounts of what is known in the trade as spoil or “muck away”. Mr Fink was quoted during an interview: “We offered to take all this spoil at our site, charging between £70 and £90 per lorry load, which meant the developers only had to haul it 10 miles rather than 100 miles to a landfill site”. This process reduced the overall ‘carbon footprint’ of sites such as Wembley and White City. Around 60,000 lorry loads of spoil and concrete was dumped on the site, which generated so much money the council actually made a profit out of Northala Fields. The spoil was used to create the four hills and the concrete was crushed and used to make gabion-walls surrounded by steel cages, which provides a spiral path up the tallest hill. Enviromesh have supplied 270 traditional welded-mesh g

• published: 02 Apr 2012
• views: 0