Myddleton House and Garden, Bulls Cross, Enfield - geograph

Lee Valley Regional Park Authority (LVRPA) is a statutory body that is responsible for managing and developing the long,

Lee Valley Regional Park Lee Valley Regional Park is a long linear park, much of it green spaces, running through the northeast of Greater London, Essex and Hertfordshire from the River Thames to Ware, through areas such as Stratford, Clapton, Tottenham, Enfield, ...

. The park was established by

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

in 1967. The headquarters of the authority are in Myddelton House,

Bulls Cross Bulls Cross is a road and hamlet in Enfield, England, on the outskirts of north London, forming part of the Metropolitan Green Belt. Although it now lies within the ceremonial county of Greater London, prior to 1965 it was in the historic count ...

in the

London Borough of Enfield The London Borough of Enfield () is a London boroughs, London borough in North London. It borders the London boroughs of London Borough of Barnet, Barnet to the west, London Borough of Haringey, Haringey to the south, and London Borough of Walt ...

, well known in the horticultural world for the gardens developed by E.A. Bowles (1865–1954) and still fully maintained and open to the public.

History

The idea for a regional park was first suggested by

Sir Patrick Abercrombie Sir Leslie Patrick Abercrombie (; 6 June 1879 – 23 March 1957) was an English regional and town planner. Abercrombie was an academic during most of his career, and prepared one city plan and several regional studies prior to the Second World ...

in his

Greater London Plan The Greater London Plan of 1944 was developed by Patrick Abercrombie (1879–1957). The plan was directly related to the County of London Plan written by John Henry Forshaw (1895–1973) and Abercrombie in 1943. Following World War II, London w ...

of 1944. However, the plan remained dormant till 1961, when

Lou Sherman Louis Sherman (23 May 1914 – 16 November 2001) was a British politician, who achieved greatest prominence as chair of the London Boroughs Association. Born to a working class Jewish family in Whitechapel, Sherman worked as a tailor's cutter ...

, Mayor of Hackney took up the challenge to regenerate the

Lea Valley The Lea Valley, the valley of the River Lea, has been used as a transport corridor, a source of sand and gravel, an industrial area, a water supply for London, and a recreational area. The London 2012 Summer Olympics were based in Stratford, in ...

. He persuaded 17 other local authorities to support him. In 1963 the Civic Trust was invited to make an appraisal of the Valley's resources, their report was positive. A bill was put to Parliament to establish the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority. Following

Royal Assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in other ...

to the Lee Valley Regional Park Bill in December 1966, the Authority was formally constituted on 1 January 1967.

Governance

Lee Valley Regional Park Authority has an appointed board of 28 members. 20 of those are from riparian authorities (those whose borders are crossed by the park's boundaries) and a further eight are appointed through Local Councils to represent the remaining 27 London Boroughs. Members are elected for a term of appointment of four years and continue in office for that period unless they resign or cease to be a councillor. The Authority is overseen by an executive committee who assist the decision-making processes of the board. The six-person executive committee represents the diverse political and geographic backgrounds of the board, with half the members from London's 33 boroughs and half from Essex and Hertfordshire.

Finance

The park authority is in part funded by a levy (not a precept) on

Council Tax Council Tax is a local taxation system used in England, Scotland and Wales. It is a tax on domestic property, which was introduced in 1993 by the Local Government Finance Act 1992, replacing the short-lived Community Charge The Community C ...

bills in Essex, Greater London and Hertfordshire.

London 2012 Olympics and London 2012 Paralympics

Lee Valley Regional Park Authority own three London 2012 Olympic venues –

Lee Valley White Water Centre Lee Valley White Water Centre (previously known as Broxbourne White Water Canoe Centre) is a white-water slalom centre, that was constructed to host the canoe slalom events of the London 2012 Olympic Games. On 9 December 2010, Anne, Princess R ...

in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire and

Lee Valley VeloPark Lee Valley VeloPark is a cycling centre on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, London, England. It is owned and managed by Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, and it was opened to the public in March 2014. The facility was one of the ...

and Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre, both of which are located on

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is a sporting complex and public park in Stratford, Hackney Wick, Leyton and Bow, in east London. It was purpose-built for the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, situated adjacent to the Stratford City developm ...

.Eton Manor
Retrieved 18 November 2009 From April 2015 these venues will be operated by Lee Valley Leisure Trust, a body which has been created by the Authority to run its major sport and leisure sites.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Leevalleypark.org: Lee Valley Regional Park Authority
Lee Valley Park Parks and open spaces in London Parks and open spaces in Hertfordshire Environmental organisations based in London Levying bodies in England