Our vision for the future
The Lee Valley Regional Park will be a world class destination combining the best of open space, conservation and sporting excellence.
Grand and imaginative
The Lee Valley Regional Park was created by Act of Parliament in 1966, with the visionary aspiration of transforming what was at that time a neglected and derelict corridor of land adjoining the River Lee into a regional park: a place for public enjoyment, where people from across the London, Essex and Hertfordshire could visit to experience leisure and recreation "… on a grand, imaginative scale." A Lea Valley Regional Park – Civic Trust (1964)
Since that time, the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority has been working alongside many partner organisations, and a remarkable transformation has been achieved, regenerating the post industrial landscape of the Lee Valley into a mosaic of award-winning open spaces, sports and leisure centres, heritage sites, country parks, farms, golf courses, lakes and riverside trails, campsites, marinas, angling and boating locations, which attract more than 4 million visitors a year.
As we move further into the 21st century, the original purpose of the Park as a place for leisure, recreation, sport and nature remains firmly at the heart of our vision for the future. But our ambition has grown: we want the Park to become a truly world class destination and an exemplar of the many benefits that large scale parklands can deliver.
We are already committed to developing and operating world-class sports facilities as a legacy of London 2012, which will see the Park develop further as a centre of sporting excellence. We recognise the importance of further developing the visitor facilities within the Park, and of balancing the Park’s biodiversity offer with a range of other leisure and recreation activities.
We also believe the Park offers a vital resource for social and community wellbeing and for the development of sustainable communities as a whole. Within our remit there is a role the Park can play in helping us to live in a more sustainable way; to adapt to, and mitigate future climate change, and to manage the impact of past land uses.