CovSoc Secretary John Payne writes…..
During October I was fortunate to be given a preview of what I am sure will be the largest new area of open space in Coventry and Warwickshire, courtesy of SEGRO and Buckingham Group Contracting Limited.
To be known as SEGRO Park Coventry, the site surrounds Coventry Airport, which might one day become a gigafactory for battery manufacture.
Gigafactory or not, the area around the airport is already the subject of a major regeneration scheme and the community park is part of that. Buckingham Group Contracting Limited has been appointed by SEGRO to reclaim the land and prepare it for development.
The site included five landfill sites, the deepest of which bottoms out at 17 metres. There was also a large relic sewage works and a number of old industrial units.
In the 1800s the area was a major centre for gravel working, in the historic valley of the Avon. The gravel was used for construction around Coventry and Warwickshire. As well as gravel workings, the land, being close to the river, was also used for a series of sewage works right up to the early years of the millennium. The gravel pits were later filled in with burned domestic waste from Coventry and the waste from the sewage works. Another part of the site was used by Alvis for testing tanks and armoured vehicles and part was also used for grazing livestock.
SEGRO has taken on the reclamation of this land and preparing it for modern development. This involves removing the old landfill sites and sewage activity, which have been polluting the aquifer. The land is then sealed with clean clay, topsoiled and landscaped.
The largest feature of the scheme is a giant bund, 2.6 km long and 35 metres high. This shields Bubbenhall from views of the development and provides an attractive environmental feature. The country park surrounds the bund and runs around about two thirds of the airport and surrounding development.
On a map it looks quite narrow, but on site it is huge – amounting in total to 235 acres. From end to end it is 3.5 km long and takes a good couple of hours to walk if you stop to take in the wildlife, which is already taking over the site. All the paths are multi-use, providing facilities for walkers, cyclists and horse riders.
There are five large lakes, which are already in use by migrating birds, and about thirty smaller ponds, intended for newts and frogs. There is a variety of ecosystems, including parkland, woodland and wetlands. Wildlife has already started to take over the land and I saw evidence of badgers, foxes, muntjacs and otters as well as a wide variety of birds and bats.
There will be a Visitor Centre, parking and facilities at one end of the park and maintenance arrangements have already been put in place.
The community park is due to open in 2024 and Buckingham Group has offered a pre-opening tour for CovSoc members.
