Enfield Island Village

Enfield Island Village
Enfield Island Village Enfield Island Village shown within Greater London
London borough	Enfield
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Region	London
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	ENFIELD
Postcode district	EN3
Dialling code	01992
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
EU Parliament	London
UK Parliament	Enfield North
London Assembly	Enfield and Haringey
List of places UK England London

Coordinates: 51°40′12″N 0°00′54″W / 51.670°N 0.015°W / 51.670; -0.015

Enfield Island Village is a modern housing estate in the London Borough of Enfield, north London. Before April 1994, Enfield Island Village formed part of the Epping Forest district of Essex, but it was transferred to the borough of Enfield in Greater London when the housing development was created.

History

Housing on the island

Enfield Island Village was built on land previously occupied by the Royal Small Arms Factory. It is close to the borders of Essex and Hertfordshire, and is adjacent to the River Lee Navigation, River Lea, Cattlegate Flood Relief Channel, and Newmans Weir, as well as open countryside, including Epping Forest.

The site was decommissioned by the MOD in 1984 and was sold to British Aerospace (BAe). BAe together with Trafalgar House launched a joint venture company – Lee Valley Developments (LVD). In 1996, the land was sold to Fairview Homes, the housing wing of Hillsdown Holdings.

Housing on the island

The housing estate was built by Fairview New Homes between 1997 and 2003 on a 100-acre (0.40 km²) brown field site. It comprises a mixture of housing ranging from one-bedroom flats to five-bedroom houses. In line with national standards, 25% of the housing was designated as social housing, and some of the original buildings have been retained. The development has a central parkland area and a small shopping centre. The shops include a small supermarket, a pharmacy, and a Chinese take-away. The Island also has its own General practitioner (GP), private fitness centre, and a new (2003) primary school – Keys Meadow in nearby Enfield Lock. A new library opened in 2008.

The development is on a flood plain. However, the Environment Agency's assessment is that, even without the flood defences that surround the Island, there is little risk of serious flooding (0.1% or 1 in 1,000 years) as compared to the surrounding area (0.5% or 1 in 200 years).

Riverside gardens

The River Lea flows through the island

As it is a private development, residents are responsible for many aspects of life on the Island through the Enfield Island Village Trust. The Trust is responsible for the upkeep of common land, including the ornamental canal and parkland, utilities such as the waste water system, and for enforcing legal covenants covering the development.

There was a campaign against the development by Friends of the Earth and the Enfield Lock Action Group in the late 1990s. The campaign resulted in the Enfield RSAF (Royal Small Arms Factory) Review Panel being set up, informed by environmental reports carried out over ten years and including evidence from witnesses such as the Head of Land Quality at the Environment Agency and a team of environmental consultants. The review concluded that the site was safe for development and that campaigners' claims regarding rumours of dangerous materials were untrue.

Planning permission was granted for the development, supported by the European Union and by the Enfield Enterprise Agency. It was developed as a model brown field development, with a clay cap at a depth of one metre under the topsoil. Safety inspections were initially carried out every six months, but this has now been reduced to annual monitoring only.

In popular culture

The area was featured in a 2000 edition of the BBC TV programme Panorama focusing on brown field housing development.^[1]

Nearest places

Nearest stations

Gallery

James Lee square
Former police station
Water tower on the island
Road bridge leading to the island spanning the River Lee Navigation (completed 1998)
The Pattern Room
The machine shop
RSAF interpretation centre
The former gun barrel forge and grindery

References

↑ Panorama transcript Retrieved 16 April 2011

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Enfield Island Village.

External links

London Borough of Enfield

Districts	Arnos Grove Botany Bay Bowes Park Brimsdown Bulls Cross Bullsmoor Bush Hill Park Chase Side Clay Hill Cockfosters Crews Hill Edmonton Enfield Chase Enfield Highway Enfield Island Village Enfield Lock Enfield Town Enfield Wash Forty Hill Freezywater Gordon Hill Grange Park Hadley Wood New Southgate Oakwood Palmers Green Picketts Lock Ponders End Southgate Upper Edmonton Winchmore Hill World's End

Attractions	Forty Hall and Gardens Millfield Theatre and Arts Centre Capel Manor Myddelton House Gardens Chickenshed Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture Whitewebbs Museum of Transport Royal Small Arms Factory Interpretation Centre

Parks and open spaces	Arnos Park Broomfield Park Durants Park Grovelands Park Oakwood Park Pymmes Park Trent Country Park Whitewebbs Park

Constituencies	Edmonton Enfield North Enfield Southgate

Tube and rail stations	Angel Road Arnos Grove Brimsdown Bush Hill Park Cockfosters Crews Hill Edmonton Green Enfield Chase Enfield Lock Enfield Town Gordon Hill Grange Park Hadley Wood Oakwood Palmers Green Ponders End Silver Street Southbury Southgate Turkey Street Winchmore Hill

Other topics	Coat of arms Council Grade I and II* listed buildings People Public art Public transport Schools

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