The Essex Naturalist
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the value of the area since before the works closed down. The river is an
important migration route, and the surrounding park, forest, cemetery and other
open land has a good selection of birds. Shortly after the works closed down, the
nest and eggs of a red-legged partridge Alectoris rufa was found in brambles by
the river bank, and pheasant Phasianus colchicus were also present. Kingfisher
Alcedo atthis were often seen, and probably nested along the river bank.
In 1980 a report on the flora, fauna and ecological value of the site was
compiled by Colin Plant (Plant, 1980). In it he suggests that the sewage works
and Wanstead Park complement each other and are of equal ecological
significance. He lists 14 species of mammal, 2 reptiles, 18 butterflies, many other
insects, birds and 120 species of plant. He concluded that in order to protect the
ecological value of the sewage works, the site would benefit from being declared
a Site of Special Scientific Interest. A list of species included in that report that
have not been found recently are included as Table 2.
Recent Changes
In 1982, the first mention was made in reports by the Corporation of London's
Epping Forest and Open Spaces Committee of the possibility of what was referred
to as the Empress Sewage Works as being suitable for exchange land. From 1986,
discussions with the London Borough of Redbridge and the Department of
Transport took place. These discussions related to two areas of land - the 3.44 ha
(8.5 acres) to the west lying between Wanstead Park and the Cemetery, and the
4.64 ha (11.5 acres) to the east by the River Roding referred to as the "wilderness"
- as well as the parcel of land which is shown as Redbridge Field in Fig. 1 which
separates these two and was already owned by the Borough. The road schemes
which required Epping Forest land were the Hackney to M.ll Link Road, The
South Woodford to Barking Relief Road, and the A.406 improvement Scheme.
A number of different proposals were discussed until, by July 1993, the DoT
was prepared to offer the two areas of land amounting to 20 acres to Epping
Forest, and for Redbridge to retain its field.
Objections had been raised about the suitability of using old sewage works
land for Epping Forest, and included references to the possibility of
contamination by heavy metals. An independent survey was undertaken by the
Environmental Safety Centre at Harwell, and the conclusion was that the land
was suitable for the intended use, subject to some remedial work. The
recommendations were that roads and clinker beds be covered with at least 1.5
feet of topsoil; the side walls of the drying pans be removed and the tanks
levelled to the ground and covered with topsoil; areas of decomposed sewage
sludge be covered with at least 1.5 feet of clean topsoil; any areas of tarmac be
covered with 1.5 feet of topsoil if tequired.
These recommendations were accepted, with the proviso that the DoT
finance this remedial work and also landscape the area as required by Epping