RYE MEADS summary assessment evaluation guidelines area80

Buntingford

County map showing location of LANDSCAPE CHARACTER AREA

©Crown copyright .All rights reserved. Puckeridge

Hertfordshire County Council /Standon Bishops

100019606 2004 Watton Stortford -at- Stone

Ware

Hertford area 80

LOCATION KEY CHARACTERISTICS Area around junction of rivers Lea and Stort, south of • flat river valley Stanstead Abbotts and east of the northern part of • mineral extraction . • industrial/utilities • wetland vegetation LANDSCAPE CHARACTER • extensive waterbodies A curious mix of utilities such as sewage works, leisure activities (marina) and the quasi-rural character of nature DISTINCTIVE FEATURES reserves and historic artefacts in partly restored former • Rye gatehouse mineral workings, around highly important remnant • pylons floodplain grazing grasslands. • bridge • marina on southern edge of Stanstead Abbotts • nurseries on north-eastern edge of river valley

Rye Mead gatehouse • (P.Shears)

East Herts District Landscape Character Assessment pg 142 RYE MEADS summary assessment evaluation guidelines area 80

PHYSICAL INFLUENCES HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL INFLUENCES Geology and soils. Stoneless clayey soils, in places The Lea valley is a very disturbed area that has been calcareous, over river alluvium (Fladbury 1 series) transformed more than once. The river was used to Topography. Flat river valley. transport produce from the area to London Degree of slope. 0. and began to be canalised in Elizabethan times, when the Altitude range. 30m throughout. structure of which Rye Gatehouse is the last remaining part Hydrology. The Lower Lea flows from Feildes Weir south to was built. The earliest record of a deer park here is 1443. the Thames, a distance of approximately 34km. This gives The original grazing meadows within the river valley have an average gradient of 1 in 1300, which is very shallow, but been largely destroyed, having given way in the 19th unsurprising given the low-lying floodplain catchment. The century to nurseries and allotments to feed the increasing river lies on the London clay and demonstrates the typically London population. In turn the Lea Valley became the focus 'flashy' nature of urban and clay run-off rivers. Much of the for the development of utilities to service the continuing fluvial gravel has been extracted and the redundant expansion of London and sand and gravel expansion began workings now form lakes, many of them connected to the in the northern part in the early 20th century to serve the Flood Relief Channel. Below Stanstead Abbotts the London construction industry. A scheme to beautify the Rye Stanstead Mill Stream joins the Navigation, the Meads area in the mid 19th century has also been and canalised river, which then splits into several channels south gone (see below). of the A414 road bridge. At Glen Faba the Lea Navigation Field pattern. The original field pattern no longer exists splits to provide an additional Flood Relief Channel. and the landscape scale has been considerably enlarged. Land cover and land use. The dominant land cover in this Transport pattern. Within the northern edge of this area area is a mix of utilities/industry and open water and the B181 crosses the river at Stanstead Abbotts, while the wetland vegetation associated with former mineral A414 road bridge is a dominant feature further south above workings. There is a rail-served aggregates depot, an the valley and with extensive views out. There is also a ancillary asphalt plant and consent for a ready-mix concrete minor toll road linking Stanstead Bury and Rye Park, a plant as well as extensive sewage works at Rye Meads. curious lane that provides a link between the many These contrast with leisure uses, such as the marina south disparate features that make up this area. of Stanstead Abbotts and the stadium near Rye House Settlements and built form. There are no settlements railway station, on the edge of the residential area of within this part of the Lee valley, although Stanstead Hoddesdon. On the eastern edge of this area there are also Abbotts, on the northern edge, lies partly within it and nurseries and glasshouses, a relic of a once more extensive completely blocks any perception of the river valley industry. extending northwards. Rye Common Pumping station is Vegetation and wildlife. Much of the Rye Meads area has Italianate yellow brick, erected in 1882, and visible from the SSSI status and forms part of the proposed Lea Valley A414. Rye Mead gatehouse (SAM) dates from 1443 and is Special Protection Area (SPA) under the EC Birds Directive. a red brick rectangle with blue brick diapering, standing on The meadows are the last substantial remnants of ancient a moated site beside the river. Nearby is the Rye House Inn, flood meadows in the Lea valley and support one of the part of a Victorian scheme of 1864 to convert the Rye largest areas of tall fen vegetation in the county, a valuable House neighbourhood into a pleasure garden a la Vauxhall habitat for wet grassland plants and birds, including over- and Ranelagh. wintering bittern and breeding colonies of common tern and tufted duck. The 17 shallow sewage treatment lagoons OTHER SOURCES OF AREA-SPECIFIC are highly significant for breeding and wintering wildfowl INFORMATION and form an integral part of a large and rich complex of Pevsner, N., rev. Cherry, B., Hertfordshire, Penguin (2000). wetland habitats, including fen/mire communities, sedge Lee Valley Management Plan. swamp and sweet-grass swamp. The RSPB/HMWT reserves Lee Valley Regional Park Park Plan: Part Two. at Rye Meads/Rye House Marsh accommodate the largest Environment Agency LEAP for North London. area of reedbed in the county. The tree cover in this area is very extensive, part planted and part natural regeneration, consisting of water-related species, such as willow, poplar and alder and reclamation species such as silver birch and aspen. Other species are ash, oak, hazel, sycamore, downy birch and Lombardy poplar. Scrub regeneration includes hazel, elder, hawthorn and sallow.

pg 143 East Herts District Landscape Character Assessment RYE MEADS summary assessment evaluation guidelines area 80

VISUAL AND SENSORY PERCEPTION ACCESSIBILITY The strongest impression here is the contrast between Noted recreational land uses include walking, bird watching industrial and nature conservation land uses. Despite the and boating. A414 road bridge overhead it is a surprisingly tranquil area In some places the condition of footpaths is poor. and the ongoing restoration projects provide a dynamism that contrasts with the static nature of the sewage works. It COMMUNITY VIEWS is not unified, being a jumble of contrasting land uses, but This landscape is significantly valued (C). is fascinating. The river, wedged between the urban edge 'The locality is pleasant but it is the resort of too many and the industrial area, is a less dominant landscape feature vulgar Londoners to be desirable’, B.Moran in The Journal than the waterbodies of the former mineral workings. of Benjamin Moran 1857-65, Gillespie, Chicago (1868), Rarity and distinctiveness. Designation as a proposed SPA quoted in So that was Hertfordshire, M Tompkins, (1998). denotes the special nature and national importance of this area for nature conservation - the bittern is now a rare and LANDSCAPE RELATED DESIGNATIONS endangered species. It is also regionally important for its SSSI and part of Lea Valley pSPA/pRamsar site. breeding bird colonies and as a focal point for bird The Lea Valley is recognised as a High Biodiversity Area migration routes, recognised in Rye Meads Ringing Station, (HBA) for its wetlands. one of the oldest bird-ringing stations in the UK. In Landscape Development Area. landscape terms this is certainly a most unusual area at present, although it is likely that, as restoration proceeds, it will more resemble the Regional Park areas south of Dobb’s Weir. Rye Gatehouse is unique.

VISUAL IMPACT The impact of urban and industrial development, the transport corridor and utilities is especially apparent. Within this there are gems, such as Rye Gatehouse.

CONDITION STRENGTH OF CHARACTER Land cover change: widespread Impact of landform: prominent Age structure of tree cover: mixed Impact of land cover: prominent Extent of semi-natural habitat survival: fragmented Impact of historic pattern: relic Management of semi-natural habitat: good Visibility from outside: concealed Survival of cultural pattern: declining Sense of enclosure: contained Impact of built development: high Visual unity: incoherent Impact of land-use change: high Distinctiveness/rarity: unusual

Strengthen Conserve Safeguard and and and reinforce strengthen manage

Improve Improve Conserve and and and reinforce conserve restore MODERATE

CONDITION Restore Improve condition Reconstruct and to maintain POORrestore GOOD character

WEAK MODERATE STRONG

STRENGTH OF CHARACTER

East Herts District Landscape Character Assessment pg 144 RYE MEADS summary assessment evaluation guidelines area 80

STRATEGY AND GUIDELINES FOR MANAGING CHANGE: CONSERVE AND RESTORE • encourage the work of the London Waterway Partnership and its five themes • encourage a reversion to pastoral grazing within the floodplain where this is possible and practicable • encourage the Environment Agency to ensure that any new flood alleviation works are designed to complement the landscape and biodiversity of the area • ensure that any proposals for waste management development in the vicinity of Rye Meads power station are developed with due regard to landscape, water quality, biodiversity and other environmental issues and with a view to improving the local landscape • encourage the use of the Lea Navigation and the railway for the transport of aggregates from sites within the valley • encourage the work of the RSPB in providing birdwatching facilities at Rye House Marsh Reserve • encourage SUSTRANS' proposal for a cycle path along the Lea Flood Relief Channel, with links to the River Lea Country Park cycle route • support the work of LVRPA in developing a Water Management Strategy to resolve wildlife/leisure conflicts • encourage LVRPA in the creation of a diverse suite of wetland habitats to make full use of the biodiversity and landscape potential of the valley • if water quality and groundwater protection requirements can be met, give consideration to granting consent for inert waste tips within the valley, to provide potential restoration to non-waterbody sites and increase the ecological diversity of the area • encourage investigation of the potential for white water canoeing at Glen Faba, to provide additional recreational facilities • investigate the potential to provide additional footpath links from the New River to the and other river channels

• Rye Meads Nature Reserve (P. Shears)

pg 145 East Herts District Landscape Character Assessment