Ahead of the annual Langthorne Park Festival on Saturday 13 June, we’ve been working to deliver a series of improvements to the park, all shaped by you.
The improvements, driven by feedback and involvement from residents, include:
- a dedicated Forest School learning area, forming a local base for The Hive in the south of Waltham Forest
- the transformation of the service entrance of the park into a pedestrian entrance for everyone to use
- step-free access from street into the park
- removal of internal fences, railings and an outdated pergola to create a more open and welcoming space
- cycle parking
- a dedicated storage area
- a compact car park for park teams.
Biodiversity and climate resilience were a huge part of the improvements, which included: a new raingarden to absorb rainwater from the car park and entrance area; extended planted areas with robust planting capable of withstanding warmer temperatures and humidity; and larger tree pits to improve tree health and absorption of rainwater.
You’ll also see refreshed public art throughout the park, developed by Blackhorse Workshop in partnership with the Langthorne Park Youth Club, including new footway insets to replace the stolen cast-iron insets and broken mosaic, artwork developed with Wood Street Walls on the storage containers in the maintenance area, and fence poetry. Residents can also play new board games on small metal panels which will be attached to the seats of the amphitheatre.
There’s more to come later this summer, when we’ll see the installation of festoon lighting between the street and pavilion building, new park signage including Toy Library and Forest School signs, as well as a unique Langthorne Park community flag created by Blackhorse Workshop with the Langthorne Park Youth Club.
Pavilion upgrades will include a café hatch in the Pavilion building, for the sale of snacks and refreshments during activities and events such as the Langthorne Park Festival, and a defibrillator for emergency use during park and Pavilion activities.
You can stay up to date on the latest improvements on the Let’s Talk Langthorne Park webpage.