Watford Borough Council

A major project is currently underway and is being led by Watford Borough Council’s Parks and Open Spaces team.

Cassiobury Park is immensely popular with Watford residents and the many visitors who come from afar to visit it especially during the summer months. The pools and Cha Cha Cha are especially popular and it is estimated that up to 1 million visitors pass through the park a year!

So why look at a restoration scheme for the park? Many of its facilities need updating if it is to be as popular moving into the 21st century. The pools are old and declining in quality and are in need of a complete overhaul. There are concerns in relation to toilet and welfare facilities in the park as well as car parking, access and changing facilities. There are pressures on the landscape which is what makes Cassiobury Park so special and this includes tree management, the river Gade and the canal corridor. Whippendell wood is completely detached from the park and is largely left to its own devices! Parts of the landscape are gradually being lost such as the Mile Walk and Lime Avenue as well as views from the canal and river Gade up through the park. At the same time, the park needs to be refreshed taking into account its long term sustainability and future use but with heritage at its heart.

The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has funded over £600 million worth of restoration works to public parks across the UK since its inception. This programme continues and Watford Borough Council has appointed consultants LDA Design to develop a Stage 1 application to the Heritage Lottery Fund. A scheme is currently being developed which has taken into account the heritage of the park and the many stakeholders involved to date.

Proposals include a new park “Hub” or “Centre” on a totally revamped pools centre which will include catering facilities, park rangers office, changing facilities, toilets, visitor centre and education/ community room. The pools are extremely popular and these will be replaced and updated with a state of the art pools facility with water play and the 5 pool buildings will be demolished. From here, the park ranger service will manage the park with an education officer working with local schools to develop outreach work in the park and Whippendell Wood.

Proposals are also planned for the modernisation of Cha Cha Cha and improvements to its surrounds and the entrance from Shepherds Road. At the same time, improvements are planned from Rickmansworth Road with the creation of an entrance space and feature although there are no plans to replace the former gates due to cost implications.

However, one of the most exciting proposals is the reintroduction into the park of the bandstand which was removed and re-erected and now sits rather forlornly outside the Town Hall. The restoration and reintroduction into the park of this magnificent structure is popular with many local people and would bring another medium for arts, music and events in Cassiobury Park.

The Stage 1 application was successfully submitted to HLF with a supporting statement from Dorothy Thornhill on 28 February 2012 and we now await a result from HLF which will be in June 2012.  The final project value was just over £6 million, with £4.9 being requested from HLF.  The timescale is as follows:

• June 2012 - response from HLF.  Announce whether successful or not and provisional award granted
• Stage 2 developed from June onwards.  This will include the real detail of the scheme and will involve detailed design and working up of the outline proposals as submitted in Stage 1; with design of the buildings and detailed restoration proposals, as well as much greater analysis of the landscape, trees, heritage, hydrology and ecology, and this will shape the final designs to be submitted to the HLF in February 2013 to HLF.
• Response from HLF in August 2013 and final approval. September; begin procurement and final designs
• January 2014 - commence on site