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In response to a flooding event which affected properties in the area in 2024, Enfield Council’s Blue & Green Infrastructure Team are constructing some wetlands to act as flood storage areas in the southern corner of the Playing Fields. These wetlands will be located in an area to ensure that no pitches or run-off areas within the park will be affected and will have shallow graded slopes, with a depth of 300mm of water around the edges in day-to-day conditions. They will be planted up with native wetland plants such as common reed, purple loosestrife and yellow frag iris.
When there is heavy rain, the playing fields can become saturated and water runs quickly off the land, into this southern corner of the park where the wetlands are proposed. The drains can become overwhelmed meaning water has nowhere to go, leading to flooding. The wetlands will help store this water, slowly releasing it back into the drainage system.
September 3rd Update:
We completed excavation works on site in mid-July. As we have had one of the driest summers in the UK this year, we were unable to seed the topsoiled areas as it would not have taken due to lack of rainfall. We will be able to seed the areas in the coming weeks as we see increased seasonal rainfall.
Contractors will be returning to site next week to undertake the second phase of works which involves some pipe work to connect the wetlands in. These works should take approximately 4 weeks.
In response to resident concerns on the safety of the wetlands - although the wetlands appear very deep, in day-to-day conditions the maximum depth of water will be kept at 300mm. We have had to dig this deep to ensure that we can connect in the existing drainage system. The wetlands will be planted with wetland vegetation which, once established, will act as a natural barrier that discourages access to the water. In addition, the banks and slopes have been designed to be shallow and gradual. This is the standard design for many of the wetlands in Enfield, and to date we have not been alerted of any safety issues regarding the public entering the water.
The wetlands will not be a standing pool of water and they will become part of the natural drainage system which will be slowly flowing which mosquitos aren’t attracted to. In addition, it is likely that the wetlands will dry out completely in the summer, if they are similar to the summers we have had in the past few years.
In response to a flooding event which affected properties in the area in 2024, Enfield Council’s Blue & Green Infrastructure Team are constructing some wetlands to act as flood storage areas in the southern corner of the Playing Fields. These wetlands will be located in an area to ensure that no pitches or run-off areas within the park will be affected and will have shallow graded slopes, with a depth of 300mm of water around the edges in day-to-day conditions. They will be planted up with native wetland plants such as common reed, purple loosestrife and yellow frag iris.
When there is heavy rain, the playing fields can become saturated and water runs quickly off the land, into this southern corner of the park where the wetlands are proposed. The drains can become overwhelmed meaning water has nowhere to go, leading to flooding. The wetlands will help store this water, slowly releasing it back into the drainage system.
September 3rd Update:
We completed excavation works on site in mid-July. As we have had one of the driest summers in the UK this year, we were unable to seed the topsoiled areas as it would not have taken due to lack of rainfall. We will be able to seed the areas in the coming weeks as we see increased seasonal rainfall.
Contractors will be returning to site next week to undertake the second phase of works which involves some pipe work to connect the wetlands in. These works should take approximately 4 weeks.
In response to resident concerns on the safety of the wetlands - although the wetlands appear very deep, in day-to-day conditions the maximum depth of water will be kept at 300mm. We have had to dig this deep to ensure that we can connect in the existing drainage system. The wetlands will be planted with wetland vegetation which, once established, will act as a natural barrier that discourages access to the water. In addition, the banks and slopes have been designed to be shallow and gradual. This is the standard design for many of the wetlands in Enfield, and to date we have not been alerted of any safety issues regarding the public entering the water.
The wetlands will not be a standing pool of water and they will become part of the natural drainage system which will be slowly flowing which mosquitos aren’t attracted to. In addition, it is likely that the wetlands will dry out completely in the summer, if they are similar to the summers we have had in the past few years.
