Vision wish to apologise and acknowledge that we did not consult with our users and the wider community in relation to providing a temporary grass overspill car park at Fairlop Waters. We do encourage visitors to use alternative methods of transport to get to Fairlop Waters including walking, cycling, bus and tube. We have regularly issued messages on social media to encourage people to leave the car at home.

Fairlop Waters is one of the busiest green spaces in the borough and very popular with the local community who wish to visit the Country Park and enjoy some of the activities on site. Unfortunately, during the summer months, the car parking facilities on site are not sufficient for the number of users and stakeholders on site and we regularly have to close the car parks as they reach capacity.

In order to provide additional car parking spaces, for weekends only from June to September, we looked at the option to use a small part of the fairway on the first hole of the golf course as a temporary grass car park. This was always a temporary measure whilst we work with the Council on the long term master planning of the site.

We acknowledge and further apologise that we should not have installed an imported topsoil bund. Our short term actions were to try and address the immediate pressures we face and the risk that they present to visitors to the site. Our intention was to try and ensure that we had safe parking facilities for all of the local community, particularly families who come to Fairlop Waters.

On Monday, 26th July, works will commence to remove the soil imported to the site and further grading works to entrance/exit areas will be completed. This should all be completed in one day. The temporary car park will only be used at weekends, if absolutely necessary, to accommodate the large numbers of users who continue to use Fairlop Waters. It is vitally important that we provide additional parking spaces so that everyone can use it safely.