Lee Valley Regional Park Celebrates Legacy Award for London’s Parks

The international award is for Greater London and recognises individuals or organisations whose work has a lasting impact on enhancing and preserving public parks.

London’s largest green space, Lee Valley Regional Park is a 26-mile long patchwork of open spaces that starts at the banks of the Thames and follows the path of the River Lee through east London and Essex to Ware in Hertfordshire.

The collective efforts of Greater London – which includes the City of London, Greater London Authority, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London Legacy Development Corporation, Royal Parks, National Park City Foundation and the 32 London boroughs, alongside Lee Valley Regional Park – have also been recognised for their advancement of environmental sustainability.

The Legacy Award for 2024 was announced this week during the Future Green City World Congress in Utrecht, Netherlands.

Shaun Dawson, Chief Executive of Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, said: “London is one of the greenest cities in the world and this award recognises the work that goes into ensuring its parks and open spaces continue to be an integral part of the fabric of our great city. Lee Valley Regional Park’s own journey over almost six decades from London’s wasteland to its green lung has been remarkable and we are thrilled it has been recognised once again on the world stage.”

- ENDS –

A selection of hi-res imagery can be downloaded from here: https://leevalleypark.canto.global/b/JDQ4P

For more information, hi-res imagery or to request interviews, please contact:

Alison Moore, Senior Corporate Communications Officer

M: 07909 000316 E: amoore@leevalleypark.org.uk

Notes to Editors

About Lee Valley Regional Park:

London’s largest green space,Lee Valley Regional Park stretches 26 miles along the River Lee from Ware in Hertfordshire to East India Dock Basin on the Thames and offers a range of great activities, days out and attractions from cycling and white water sports to ice skating, horse riding, hockey, tennis and camping, alongside award winning nature reserves, green spaces, heritage sites and riverside trails, attracting around eight million visits a year.

· The park was created by a unique Act of Parliament as a “green lung” for London, Essex and Hertfordshire and features a 10,000 acre patchwork of heritage sites, nature reserves and open green spaces, alongside world class sports venues, attracting over 10 million visitors every year.

· Just over 50 years ago much of the area around the River Lee was derelict, neglected and unloved, home to redundant industry, sewage works, gravel pits, rubbish dumps and railway sidings. Over the last five decades Lee Valley Regional Park Authority has, with partners, led the almost wholesale transformation of the 10,000 acre, 26 mile long area.

· Our open spaces include eight Sites of Special Scientific Interest, a designation reserved for the most important areas for nature across the UK. Four of these form the Lee Valley Special Protection Area, the designation for sites in Europe with habitats that are important for migratory birds. They also form a Ramsar site, an area which has been globally recognised as an internationally important wetland.

· Nine of Lee Valley Regional Park’s open spaces, gardens and heritage sites retained the prestigious Green Flag Award in 2024. A tenth Green Flag was awarded to Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, which is jointly managed by The London Legacy Development Corporation and Lee Valley Regional Park Authority. This internationally recognised award signifies quality open spaces. Myddelton House Gardens in Enfield also retained the coveted Green Heritage Site Accreditation, in recognition of the Authority’s successful management of this historic venue.

· In further recognition of the Authority’s dedication to providing high quality open spaces, eight sites across Lee Valley Regional Park were awarded the highest Gold accolade from the prestigious London in Bloom Awards in 2023. This included a special Best Biodiversity and Environmental Innovation award for the newly constructed Lee Valley Ice Centre in East London, a cutting edge facility aspiring to become the most sustainable ice venue in the UK.

· Lee Valley Regional Park Authority owns three London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games venues: Lee Valley White Water Centre in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire and Lee Valley VeloPark and Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre in east London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

· The Authority’s sporting offer also includes the world class Lee Valley Athletics Centre, British Horse Society-approved Lee Valley Riding Centre and the newly constructed Olympic standard twin rink Lee Valley Ice Centre, the only venue of its kind in the south east.

· Three of Lee Valley’s sports venues were awarded an ‘Excellent’ Quest rating in 2023, with Lee Valley White Water Centre receiving the coveted ‘Outstanding’ rating, having achieved excellence in all criteria – the venue is one of only two centres in the country to hold this accreditation. Quest, the Sport England recommended Continuous Improvement Tool for leisure facilities, recognises quality facilities and the highest standard of customer service. Lee Valley Athletics Centre secured a ‘Very Good’ rating in 2023, and the new Lee Valley Ice Centre will be eligible for its first assessment in 2024.

· Other recreational activities at Lee Valley Regional Park include cycling, angling, walking and bird watching. Historical sites such as Myddelton House Gardens, Waltham Abbey Gardens, Rye House Gatehouse and Three Mills Green can be found throughout the park.

· The Authority's Learning and Engagement service offers a range of outdoor learning programmes for Primary, Secondary, SEN schools and community groups, delivered by a team of experienced and trained staff and coaches. In 2023 the service retained the nationally recognised Learning Outside the Classroom (LOtC) Quality Badge, demonstrating the quality of learning and effectiveness of risk management.

· Lee Valley Regional Park Authority offers a range of volunteering opportunities from individual roles to corporate volunteering and collaboration with clubs, groups and organisations. The Authority has held an Investing in Volunteers award for the past 15 years, the national standard for organisations who maintain quality volunteer management and procedure regimes.

· Lee Valley Regional Park offers four camping and caravan sites at a variety of scenic locations: Dobbs Weir in Hertfordshire, Sewardstone in north east London and Edmonton in north London and the bushcraft inspired Lee Valley Almost Wild Campsite in Broxbourne.

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