Fresh cash boost for Enfield Chase woodland

Plans to provide new and improved access to woodland as the tree-planting project continues up to 2025

Enfield Chase Restoration Project has been given another big cash boost thanks to the Greater London Authority (GLA).

The award-winning woodland – being delivered by Enfield Council and environmental charity Thames 21 – has so far seen 134,000 trees planted over three years and is now set to provide another 100,000 up to March 2025.

To help open up the fledgling woodland and make it fully accessible, City Hall is providing £500,000 to install new footpaths and upgrade existing paths, provide wayfinding and improve connectivity to public transport.

While the London Loop currently winds its way through the new woodland between Trent Park and Crews Hill, it is currently inaccessible to wheelchair users because of the need to negotiate a stile to cross over The Ridgeway. This also makes it difficult for cyclists to access the route.

The money from City Hall is part of a £3.8m package of funding for green infrastructure across the capital, in an effort to make London more resilient to climate change. Analysis has shown that if the necessary action is not taken and extreme temperatures and flooding continue to get worse, a quarter of London’s rail stations, one in five schools, nearly half of London’s hospitals and hundreds of thousands of homes and workplaces will be at risk of flooding in the future.

The latest map of Enfield Chase Restoration Project and planned new routes and tree-planting areas

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: “I’m delighted to announce nearly £4m in additional funding to increase tree planting and boost our resilience to climate change across the capital.

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“Trees, green spaces and the natural environment have a critical role to play in tackling the climate and ecological emergency, and planting 100,000 new trees, including 50 hectares of new publicly accessible woodland will help make London a better, greener and safer place for everyone.

“I’m doing all I can to boost London’s climate resilience and have awarded almost £30m in funding to vital tree planting and green space projects across the capital since becoming mayor in 2016. I will continue to take bold action, particularly in the areas of the capital most vulnerable to climate change impacts.”

As well as improving access within the new woodland itself, the GLA cash will also pay for new wayfinding routes to and from Crews Hill and Gordon Hill railway stations, as well as upgraded footpaths through Botany Bay village.

There is also a plan to divert the London Loop underneath Rendelsham Viaduct and into Hilly Fields, instead of the current longer route via Clay Hill, but this still requires permission from Network Rail which owns the land around the Hertford Loop Line.

Rick Jewell, Enfield Council’s cabinet member for environment, said: “This funding from the mayor will enable us to achieve another step in our plan to make Enfield the greenest borough in London. It will help us transform Enfield Chase into one of London’s finest green spaces, with a diverse combination of woodlands, wetlands and grasslands.

“This new accessible woodland will be integrated into 400 hectares of existing parkland, creating a linked and publicly accessible nature network, and will benefit the whole of Enfield and millions more Londoners that live less than an hour away.”

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