'THE WALKS'
The Walks is a large area of open space in King's Lynn. It is an area of historic parkland. Plans to restore / rejuvenate the area have been submitted to the Heritage Lottery Fund. The total cost of the scheme is set to be £4.34 million. Six years have been spent in planning and consultation. I recently attended a talk by Richard Hales, who is overseeing the application for the grant.
The Walks would form an excellent location for field studies for schools in the West Norfolk area (and possibly beyond..) - Geography students are often looking for the latest 'live' issue - for many years it was the building of the flyover at the Hardwick roundabout but that was finally opened recently after a lengthy delay. New developments such as supermarkets are also issues which polarise local opinion.
THE PROPOSALS
Proposed plans include:
Improved drainage
Improved footpaths
Improved lighting and installation of CCTV
Restoration of Red Mount Chapel
Park ranger presence
Visitor centre
Footbridge over the water course through the Walks, and repair to banks
Restoring fountain to working order
New play equipment
More on the plans at the WEST NORFOLK website and also the SCOTT WILSON website. From this page you can download any parts of the plan that you want to do.
One of the areas which has attracted a lot of attention in the local press has been the plans to 'renovate' the avenues of trees which give 'The Walks' its name. This particular aspect of the scheme has led to a great deal of local discussion. The plans describe the replacement of trees which are apparently becoming dangerous, and improving the soil for the replacement trees. Trees will be replanted in one 'go' rather than replacing trees as they die. The plans have undergone a lot of adaptations in recent months.
VIEWPOINTS
A website called THE WALKS sets out some of the opposition to the proposals and features the work of the WALKS ACTION GROUP, who use the following image in their publicity materials.
I am grateful to M.J. Ray of North End, King's Lynn for contacting me with some clarification on what he calls the Council's unverifiable arguments in favour of felling:
1. The trees are not in a dangerous condition. Any dangerous trees
are removed as soon as possible once noticed, as can be seen in the
Arboricultural report by OCA on the Scott Wilson site. Leaving
dangerous trees standing would probably be considered negligence.
2. It is not known whether poor soil quality is preventing healthy
growth. That claim cannot be verified from the published data. The
soil experts, after taking non-random(!!) samples, wrote "there does
not appear to be a single soil-based factor to which the reduced tree
growth/health may be confidently attributed. There are likely to be a
number of chemical and physical factors that may have contributed to
create sufficient plant stress to cause the trees to achieve
sub-optimum growth." (See soil investigation reports from the Scott
Wilson site.)
3. The soil would not "be sorted" by the project. Only a trench of
topsoil would be replaced. The subsoil would remain at pH 8.5 - 8.8,
which is too alkaline for nursery trees, so they would need special
treatment. (See soil investigations and also the plan for replacement
planting (Appendix A1 I think).)
4. The replacements will not be planted "in the same way as they did
in previous years". They are not being planted young and they are
being planted simultaneously, while the proposed Broad Walk style was
planted in the 1750s and the proposed Extension Walk style was
planted in the 1840s. This is a new style for the Walks, not a
restoration. (This may be a pain to verify, needing material from the
stage two bid appendix A1 and probably the stage one bid section 3.
The stage one bid is not online, but is in Juniper House reception.)
5. Our task should be to conserve this conservation area and
replace things as they die, not to attempt to "renovate" it with
prefab plants and wood and 'spaceship-style' cafe buildings.
6. Students may be particularly concerned by the plan to remove the
current neglected sports facilities and replace them with a smaller
space elsewhere in the Walks. The government advice on assessing need
for sports facilities is published
7. Another hot topic with students we've spoken to has been the climate
change effect. I guess that's understandable, as they'll be on this
planet longer than we will. Tree felling and soil disturbances both
release fixed carbon and both will happen in this project. Groups
like the National Trust produce fact sheets which are really scathing
about tree clearances, but I have no idea what contribution the Walks
project will make to climate change.
Any more comments ?
The idea is to allow people to include various viewpoints so that students can make up their own mind. GeographyPages will try to
maintain 'procedural neutrality.