A 21st Century Green Project - Mile End Park

Planned in the nineties, and completed in the early years of the new millennium, this piece of countryside in the city consists of many separate parks, the Play Arena, Ecology Park, Arts park, Terrace Garden, Adventure Park, Sports Park and Children's Park. It also contains a stretch of the Regents Canal and one of the most unusual road bridges in the country, the Green Bridge. This bridge, completed in 2000, allows Mile End Park to cross over the road and makes an interesting contrast with the more usual approach of building bridges for cars. It contains garden and water features and some shops and restaurant space built in below. I haven’t spent a great deal of time there myself but there were a couple of things going there when I visited in mid 2006. In 2007 a farmers market was established there once a month. Details at the bottom of this page.

There was uproar about the canopy on the other side of the canal. The developers wanted to pull it down to make way for blocks of luxury flats. This was in July 2006 and the work had already begun, so by the time you read this I doubt that it will be in existence. What’s so special about this canopy? Well for starters there are only two of these overhanging canal side warehouses left in Britain, but what does history mean when compared to the revenue of 800 flats!
Hundreds of residents have objected, claiming the development will ruin views and block the natural light into their own properties and onto the canal's ecosystems.
One of the strongest objections comes from the Inland Waterways Association. In its submission to the council, it says: "These remnants from the heyday of the canal system in London allowed perishable cargoes to be loaded and unloaded in all weathers." It seems to me, that this space has never been needed for development before the City started to expand into the East End, but as soon as they smell a profit these greedy developers are there tearing down anything in their path to make a fast buck. Unfortunately the project was given the go ahead and construction work is in progress at the moment (2007). I’ll try to get over there soon to photograph the changes.

I don’t know how many cyclists use the park on a regular basis but I should imagine quite a few come up and down the canal towpath and enter it for some reason.
While I was there a sponsored ride for leukemia was taking place and there were many people on bikes riding a circuit that took them in and out of the park between two points, and also along the canal. I haven’t got a lot of time for the cyclist normally but as this lot weren’t causing mayhem to pedestrians and motorists on the main roads, and it was for a good cause, I will keep my thoughts to myself. The thing is, that they were all out to enjoy themselves and as there is plenty of room they didn’t spoil anyone else’s enjoyment of this urban oasis.
If you begin to get a bit of a thirst watching the strenuous activities of others you could always stop off for a while at The Palm Tree. This is a pub that was lucky enough to have the park built around it, so during the summer months has no problem attracting customers. It’s about 20 yards from the canal opposite the canopy.

The annual dog show was in progress when I visited the park. It seemed like a fun thing, with many different classes of breed and age, but a considerable number of people came to watch it. There was quite a good turnout of dogs and owners too.
Mine was only a passing visit and I didn’t explore the whole park. I will return one day and try to give the complete picture. I really want to have a look at the solar panels which are a feature of it’s ecological experiment. I didn’t realise the sheer size of the park until I got there and so was unprepared for a full article. in the mean time if you’re interested you can visit their web site by clicking here.

It was quite by accident that I found a monthly farmers market in the park. I just happened to be driving past one Saturday and saw a banner advertising it for the next day. I would bet that there are many local people who don’t know of it’s existence, as it was the first I had heard of it.
It was a bitterly cold day when we went there, with a wind to add to the chill. I would think there may be more traders and visitors there when the weather is better, but if you’re green and organic, and don’t mind the extra cost you can get some tasty produce there including fresh caught fish, home made sausages, bread, cakes, pies, meats and fresh free range eggs. Due to the weather I only took a few snaps. Here is a small photo gallery of the farmers market.