Environment Agency - Home

Fishing promoted in Boris's millions winning park

We are working with anglers to promote the importance of their fishing lake in a deprived area of South London.  Burgess Park is situated in the London Borough of Southwark, with a local population of about 20,000 people within 1km of its edge.  Southwark is home to a culturally diverse population - the nearby Aylesbury estate has approximately 60% black and ethnic residents.  The local area is characterised by 55% public housing, mainly high density.  In terms of social deprivation, the Indices of Multiple Deprivation ranks Southwark as the fourth most deprived area in London.

Burgess Park won a windfall of £6 million this Spring, when the Mayor of London awarded the park the top prize in the Priority Parks campaign.  This money will be used to completely revamp the park, including new entrances, landscaping and artwork.  We have been working with the Friends of Burgess Park and Burgess Park Fishing Club to demonstrate the importance of Burgess Park lake to the local community, to ensure that the lake is maintained as a centrepiece of the Council’s plans.Burgess Park Lake will benefit from improved access for anglers

We have contributed £15,000 towards improving the access to the artificially lined lake for anglers.  This money, in partnership with London Borough of Southwark, will enable new fishing platforms to be installed, along with additional aquatic planting to improve habitat for fish and water quality.

We also recently attended the Friends of Burgess Park May Fair and set up a stand with information about fishing, along with a tank of fish from Burgess Park Lake.  This proved essential as it showed the local people what they can find within the lake.  In conjunction with Thames21’s Catch21 angling development project, we also enabled nearly 30 children to have a free coaching session and try out fishing on the lake.