The Lee Valley Regional Park Authority (LVRPA) is planning to sell the Waterworks Centre and surrounding open green space for development. This is wrong, and I am asking for your help to fund a court case to stop them.

What are we hoping to achieve?

The marshes of the lower Lea Valley are a beautiful, amazing, unique open green space, a place for people to reconnect with nature and let their imaginations run wild right in the heart of the city. We want to make sure the marshes are there for future generations to enjoy. To do this, we must protect them from development. If the Lee Valley Regional Park is allowed to sell this patch of green open space, where will they stop?

I have spent the last five and a half years encouraging the LVRPA to recognise that they manage the Lee Valley Regional Park on our behalf, and asking them to respect our vision for our green open spaces. Again and again, the LVRPA have demonstrated that they are more interested in building an empire of large leisure venues than looking after our green lung. Now they are planning to sacrifice precious Metropolitan Open Land to pay for an ice rink that should be self-financing if it is a viable proposition. This is not acceptable, and I want to send a message to the LVRPA and others who want to develop Metropolitan Open Land: We will stand up for what we believe in. We will not tolerate attempts to rob us of our green open spaces. We will fight to protect them.

What are we planning?

With the help of Leigh Day, we are planning legal action to prevent the LVRPA from selling or developing the Waterworks Centre and surrounding land.

At the moment, we are waiting for the LVRPA to make its next move and we will need to be ready to act quickly when they do. We are therefore asking, at this stage, for your help to raise £1750. This will enable us to explore the viability of a case and pay court fees. If the case proceeds, we will need to raise additional money.

The Waterworks Centre and surrounding land provide a buffer to protect the Waterworks Nature Reserve, and the birds and animals that call it home, from noise and light pollution:

The Waterworks Centre provides facilities that enable people to enjoy green open space in one of the most densely populated cities in the world:

Save Lea Marshes enjoying a picnic on part of the site designated for development by the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority:

The Lower Lea Valley, with the land under threat highlighted: