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Lost rivers of London to resurface in Boris plan
Danny Brierley, Evening Standard16.06.08
Rivers lost decades ago under tonnes of concrete could be brought back to the surface as part of a plan to revitalise London.
Advisers to Boris Johnson are looking to create more open spaces and water features by uncovering parts of the tributaries flowing into the Thames.
The Wandle, which flows from Croydon to Wandsworth, the Bourne in south-east London and the Brent, which passes through Wembley, are among the 16 "lost" waterways the Mayor wants to bring back to the surface.
The scheme will start in the suburbs but will include "ornamental stretches" of inner London rivers if possible.
Mr Johnson is due to lay out other ambitious plans for the city to industry leaders this week. They include making London a more "liveable" place and confining skyscrapers to "clusters" in the City, Canary Wharf and Croydon.
Will Alsop, the architect drafted in to help alter Croydon's skyline, has centred his vision for the area on bringing the Wandle back to the surface.
Another design firm has suggested turning Fleet Street, where the river Fleet once ran, into a Venetian-style waterway. The Fleet and the Tyburn still f low below the streets. Peter Bishop, director of Design for London, the group advising the Mayor, said: "When these rivers are opened up I think Londoners will be amazed. The rivers have been there all the time but you never see them."
Sir Simon Milton, the Mayor's planning adviser, said: "Boris's big theme is quality of life because if London is to compete with the emerging cities of Shanghai and Mumbai, this is what is going to differentiate us. This theme of liveability is going to resonate through a lot of the changes in planning and development policy."
Sir Simon is due to meet architect Sir Terry Farrell to discuss a tree-lined promenade linking Primrose Hill to the Embankment via Oxford Circus and Trafalgar Square. It would be modelled on Las Ramblas, a Barcelona boulevard. A riverside promenade on the north bank of the Thames to mirror that by the South Bank is another proposal.
Mr Johnson was also among a group of 40 MPs who have demanded that Gordon Brown forces big companies to report their carbon emissions.
Reader views (13)
Great Idea!
- Sarah E. Pearce, London
While commendable, the plans to open up the Fleet are not viable.
The river is now a sewer, so a second "replacement" sewer would need to be built and the river ran along a line which is now a main road under the Holborn Viaduct.
If a single landlord brought the entire estate, demolished it and then reopened the river it would be amazing. Alas, the reality is that it would be economically impossible to open that particular river.
Which is a shame.
- Ianvisits, London, UK
There are many projects ready and waiting to go here is west London, including Dukes Meadows and the River Wandle. We look forward to working with the new Mayor, the EA and cracking on with it with the residents of west London who have been working up these ideas for the past 5+ years. Funding as well as political interest will be important of course.
- Trenton Oldfield, West London
Excellent. I can only hope that the bin taxes are also never implemented, else these rivers will once again rapidly fill with discarded rubbish.
A problem of equal size to that of uncovering the rivers will be to educate the public to appreciate them.
- Naomi Sajeri, Manchester
The 'Bourne in south-east London'? If this is short for 'Ravensbourne' it is already open and pleasant to walk alongside from Catford to Deptford. So pleasant in fact, that I regularly see duck, coot and other waterbirds in Catford and Ladywell, and on one occasion a heron in the river just north of Lewisham station. The noble Boris is proposing nothing new here, merely cashing in on what has been done already.
- Paul, Lewisham, London
The Guildhall Art Gallery (find its page on the City of London website) has an early 18th century painting of the entrance to the Fleet river, showing the arched Bridewell footbridge that crossed the Fleet where it met the Thames. As the accompanying text points out, the river in the early 18th century was repulsive, so this is a somewhat romantic view. I'd love to see the Fleet emerge again, without the dead dogs of the past and flowing more sweetly than it does now.
- S, London
The vast majority of Londoners would welcome more open space in Central London however the practicalities of opening up London's rivers to address Central London’s open space issue haven't been thought through by the Mayor. I fear this is another example of this Mayor's fascination with headline grabbing and little to do with practical thought through policy. First, the vast majority of Central London's rivers are now sewers. Less than 300 years ago many of London’s rivers provided fresh drinking water. Rivers such as the Effra which flows under Brixton and the little-known Falcon Brook which rises in Tooting Bec Common and flows under Northcote Road, Battersea, were open and pristine. As London grew, these rivers became choked with waste. London’s rivers were used by Joseph Bazalgette for his 1859 'Interceptor Sewer' system which washed sewage eastwards to the Abbey Mills Pumping Station in Stratford. To open up London’s rivers would require billions of pounds of investment in sewage systems. Second, there would be untold traffic disruption. As an example, the River Fleet actually flows south under Farringdon Street in the City (not under Fleet Street as indicated in your article) and any attempt to open the river would cut off an important link between King’s Cross and the City. Third, existing projects to revitalise London's waterways such as the Wandle Valley Park are still on the blocks. We should focus on making the best of what we have and not dream about the past.
- William Turner, Battersea
That should make Ken's newts happy!
- Silent Hunter, Scotland
The Wandle is already mainly open, Wandsworth council and other are in the process of making the banks into a park and pathway.
- Peter, Battersea
The Mayor's support for our proposals to restore the River Tyburn is welcomed.
- The Tyburn Angling Society, London
Brilliant idea, all for it.
- Hazel, London
A great plan, as a child during the 70s I used to play in the Wandle in Ravensbury Park in Morden. Unfortunately, the problem now seems to be the water companies themselves dumping detergent into the rivers as Thames Water did in September last year killing 2000 fish.
- P Laytime, London
What a wonderful plan; to create a Venetian scene in our capital; actually seeing our hidden rivers, perhaps we will have a gondola or two.
- Mr Alan Maltby-Wells, Rochford Essex UK
