CELEBRATE CREWS HILL & OUR COUNTRYSIDE
BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE!
Please join Enfield RoadWatch on Saturday, April 18 to enjoy, explore and appreciate two historic and environmental aspects of Enfield’s character and charm that are threatened by the proposed 21,000 Crews Hill & Chase Park New Town. There will be lots of events and activities, and a chance to send your own message to the decision makers [action items are below the day’s schedule.]
The Enfield RoadWatch booth will be set up outside Thompson’s on Cattlegate Road from 10am to 4pm. Please come and say hello and we’ll be able to brief you about the New Town, give advice on countryside walks and introduce you to a Crews Hill you may not have known was there!
We have lots of suggested activities for you to enjoy, but our timed events are:
- 10am walk from the Whitewebbs Park cafe through ancient woodland to Crews Hill
- Crews Hill Golf Club open house 11am-4pm
- Timed and limited tickets to visit award-winning Theobald Farmhouse Garden 11am-4pm
More information on all these and more below. We are still updating the events, so please check back.
You can see the key locations for the day on the map below. The 456 bus will bring you to Crews Hill and you can also get there by train on the Hertford Loop Line to Crews Hill Station. Otherwise, there are car parks throughout Crews Hill associated with the various businesses. It may be crowded so please use public transport, if you can.
Celebrate Crews Hill!
- Visit Crews Hill Golf Club from 11am, where you will be made welcome by the members and staff and can enjoy a free tea or coffee. Council Leader, Ergin Erbil, recently described the golf course as devoid of wildlife, restricted from public access, not Green Belt and supported by only 20 members. You’ll be able to see for yourselves if any of that is true. Parking on site or a short walk from the Enfield RoadWatch booth. Handouts at the booth.
- Visit Theobald’s Farmhouse’s award-winning, 2 acre organic Arts and Crafts garden. Entrance is by a timed numbered ticket ONLY. Tickets can be picked up from the Enfield RoadWatch booth on the day. No advance bookings and no direct bookings with the garden. £10 donation requested.
- Explore Culver Garden Centre near Crews Hill Station – home to 13 very varied businesses, you’ll be surprised by what you find there.
- Explore Browns Garden Village on Theobalds Park Road where there is an extensive antiques emporium, alongside a crafts shop, dog grooming and more.
- Satisfy your curiosity about reptiles at Crews Hill Reptiles, fish at Kingfisher Aquatics or Maidenhead Aquatics, or birds at The Enfield Bird Centre or London Bird Shop.
- Stroll and socialise – there are over 30 plant-related businesses to see and 10 or more cafes for a break.
Celebrate Enfield’s Countryside!
The proposed Crews Hill & Chase Park New Town would cover 884 hectares of Enfield’s Green Belt, only 10% of which has existing buildings. The rest is rolling farmland, the remnants of the historic Enfield Chase. Although much of this countryside is still actively farmed, it is criss-crossed by a network of footpaths that allows the public to experience an open rural setting that is rare in London. Some are easily accessible from Crews Hill, such as the footpath through the golf course or the path off Strayfield Road to Rectory Farm.
At 10am Walking in Whitewebbs will be leading a guided walk from the cafe at Whitewebbs Park, near Beggars Hollow, through ancient woodland [home of the controversially felled Whitewebbs Oak] to Crews Hill. An opportunity to see, first hand, the site of Tottenham Hotspur’s proposed women’s football academy.
If you’d like to plan a longer day out in Enfield’s beautiful countryside, here are three suggestions. Just click on the image to download the walk leaflet. Other walks in Enfield are available on The Enfield Society website.
Print-outs of all three walks will be available at our booth.
Send a message to decision-makers
- Social media – this is huge! We know that most of you who come on April 18 will already be opposed to the new town. It’s very important that the decision-makers in the Council, the Greater London Assembly [GLA] and the Government know the level of that opposition and the reasons why you are opposed. We are asking everyone to post on social media platforms [primarily over the weekend but before and after too] using the hashtags #CrewsHill #PlaceBreaking #StopTheNewTown and #NoEvidenceNoNewTown [Of course you can add any of your own too].
Some suggestions:
a] post a photo of a place that will be lost [scenery, a business, a view, etc.] and use a caption such as ‘This is too important to lose’
b] post a photo of yourself holding up a sign – you can do this at the booth where we will have some ready but also paper for you to write your own message
c] If you have time – and nimble fingers – here are some longer, more focused messages you can use. - We expect a lot of the candidates who are running in the May 7 local council elections to come at some point during the day. This will give you an opportunity to ask them in person what they think about the new town and how they would address the affordable housing crisis if the new town is stopped. Of the several parties who are fielding candidates in this election, only Labour is advocating for the new town. You can learn more about the election here. This is a critical election for Enfield’s future, so please make sure you are registered to vote and cast your vote thoughtfully.
- Along with other campaigns who are participating in the Day of Action around the country, we will have a letter to the Prime Minister for you to sign. Please make sure to stop by the booth to sign the letter, which we will then deliver. The letter will also be made available on the website by April 17 so you will be able to email it to the PM, if you can’t attend the event on April 18.
Our event is part of the National Day of Action for Nature, Parks and Green Spaces, which is being organised by the Community Planning Alliance in cooperation with CPRE – the Countryside Charity. The purpose is simple: to demonstrate, visibly and collectively, that people everywhere care deeply about the natural world and want to see it protected and restored. Events will take place all over the country.
Why are we taking part in the National Day of Action?
Because we think it’s important that people understand what is at stake if the proposed new town goes ahead and what could be lost – forever.
Explore this website to find out why we think the new town should not proceed and why there are much better solutions to London’s housing crisis. We expect transparent, evidence-based decision-making from our leaders and we all need to let them know that we won’t settle for anything less. How? Cast your vote in the local elections on Thursday, May 7.
We would like to thank Thompsons for hosting our event. This family-run business has been a mainstay in Crews Hill since 1948. Now run by the third generation, the company is a major local employer and one which would prefer to stay right where it is.