Major changes are being planned in Queen's Wood to meet the Central Government's mandatory requirements on the London Borough of Haringey to manage flood-risk. Ecological, archaeological and aesthetic concerns about the impact on an ancient wood are only now being considered. However, the scheme depends on the availability of central government funds tied to the current financial year.
Our columnist David Bevan, FLS, MCIEEM, MCI Hort., who was the Conservation Officer for LB Haringey from 1989 to 2005 is against these proposals. Detailed below is his objection to the proposals.
I wish to strongly oppose the proposals as set out in the statutory notification: "Queen's Wood Natural Flood Management Scheme" (22 Feb 2021). (
Click here to see the notification)
Such proposals would seriously damage the nature and ecology of one of London's most important remaining ancient woodlands, a highly valued statutory Local Nature Reserve, and a Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation in London.
The scheme proposes to bring to the surface an existing sewer, to install around twenty 'leaky dams', and to create a number of associated earth 'berms'. Some of the existing ditches, that form part of the headwaters of the River Moselle, will be 'realigned'. These proposals would have a dramatic and deleterious effect on the existing hydrology and ecology of the Wood. The 'leaky' dams would allow sewage pollution and nutrient rich water to spread widely, causing eutrophication to the surrounding soils. These edaphic effects would in turn result in the dominance of widespread and invasive plant species such as stinging nettles, docks, willowherbs and coarse grasses. The rarer and more demanding plant species, and those particularly associated with ancient woodland, like wood anemone, pignut, woodruff, early dog-violet and goldilocks buttercup, are likely to rapidly decline as they are out-competed by the more invasive species mentioned above. Many of the rarer plants are currently found close to the existing drainage ditches, so they are particularly vulnerable to the proposed flood management scheme.
In 1990, Haringey Council declared Queen's Wood a statutory Local Nature Reserve (LNR) under the provisions of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act of 1949. The declaration was made following detailed discussions and agreement with the Nature Conservancy Council (later to become English Nature and Natural England). Under the terms of the Act, LNRs must be managed for the benefit of the wild plants and animals that they support. The current proposals will, among other consequences, affect the existing complex hydrology of the Wood, which will in turn, as described above, have negative consequences for the flora and fauna. As a consequence, such proposals may well be unlawful.
Queen's Wood is also a Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation (M 116). The Mayor of London approved this designation in 2002. Such Sites are those which contain the best examples of London's habitats, Sites which contain particularly rare species, or Sites which are of particular significance within otherwise heavily built-up areas of London. The draft London Plan stated that the Mayor expects Boroughs to give 'strong protection' to such Sites in their Unitary Development Plans. I imagine that succeeding London Plans (which I do not have to hand) will have continued to offer this protection. The current proposals do not offer such 'strong protection' as I have pointed out above. Nor will the proposals result in "improving the amenity and biodiversity value in the area" as stated in the proposal.
Queen's Wood is also an important archaeological site, and a Regionally Important Geological Site.
No Environmental Impact Assessment appears to have been carried out, and should be done as a matter of urgency.
The Council have outlined several alternative flood alleviation schemes that would be far less damaging to the Wood, and these should be carefully investigated. The current proposals are by far the most damaging to the Wood.
The Friends of Queen's Wood fully acknowledge the need for a scheme to provide better protection against flooding downstream of the Wood, and they can see why the concept of adopting natural flood mitigation measures can seem attractive. However, this scheme would have a very considerable impact on many places in the Wood, and there are a number of important issues still to be resolved before they could be confident that this is a scheme that is fit for purpose for this important public open space, local nature reserve and area of ancient woodland and can thus be endorsed by them.
The following are specific examples of their overall concerns:
- What is the extent and nature of the expected pollutants in the watercourses? What is meant by detailing run-off from each rain event and treating it in a drainage ditch?
- Has as much as possible been done to protect the trees and flora of the Wood and the habitats it provides for its wildlife?
- Can we be sure that the minimum amount of additional material is brought into the Wood for the construction of features such as leaky dams and whatever is brought in is compatible with the ecology of the Wood?
- What measures will be taken to restore areas affected by the construction work?
- What will the features of the Wood such as the leaky dams actually look like?
- How will the work be staged, and how much of the Wood will be closed off for this?
They note that there has been a huge increase in the use of the Wood in the last year as a result of the lockdown measures and this is likely to persist into the spring and summer. They are pressing the Council to postpone the works until later in the year.
The Friends of Queen's Wood held a zoom meeting on the 23rd of March with members to decide what line the Friends should take. The clear consensus of members at the meeting was that the Friends should oppose the scheme. The Friends will be submitting a full and detailed objection to the council and they would encourage anyone who agrees with them to submit their own objections and pass the message on to any contacts they have who love the Wood and would not want to see it damaged.
John Miles of the Haringey Rivers Forum has produced a comprehensive report on this issue following a visit to Queen's Wood on 01 Jan 2021. (
Click here to see the report).
The daylighting of an existing Storm Sewer (or opening up the buried watercourse and restoring it to a more natural condition) has been done in Coldfall Wood. This has been held to be generally successful. However, despite the presence of a small reed bed to help control pollution, there can be visible signs of road run-off pollution and a tendency for the restored stream to smell slightly. This is more likely in winter when the reeds are slower growing. I would expect that the level of road run-off pollution to be significantly higher due to the higher density and mix of traffic on Muswell Hill Road versus Creighton Avenue. As Muswell Hill Road is a buss route, one can almost guarantee that at some stage during the winter the road will be salted, and if this particular road run-off pollution gets into Queens Wood the consequences could be catastrophic for the flora of the Wood.
The consultation process, which ends on 06 Apr 2021, provides an opportunity for getting things correct before final decisions are taken. Please make use of this by responding to Haringey Council at
frontline.consultation@haringey.gov.uk.
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