Brooklands Park lake undergoing maintenance after an 'exciting' year of progress

Work to brighten up Worthing's Brooklands Park has continued as contractors strive to make the lake fighting fit for the winter months.
Brooklands LakeBrooklands Lake
Brooklands Lake

Contractors returned to the Brighton Road park last week to plant some of the islands and carry out essential maintenance, which required temporary lowering of water levels.

Teams have also tended to some of the vegetation and rebuilt a section of the Teville Stream bank to combat potential erosion.

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It is the culmination of a year of progress at the park, which has seen environmental works completed at the lake, a new boardwalk installed and a masterplan for the park published after input from more than 800 residents.

Brooklands LakeBrooklands Lake
Brooklands Lake

Ben Sharp, of contractors Five Rivers, said: “The Teville stream is looking fantastic, it’s really taken well to our earlier works.

“Some people may think that it’s overgrown, but this is as it was intended. It’s like this to provide a habitat for nature and it’s doing this really well.

“For the work on the banks we are using a soft engineering solution which involves building up geotextile bags to mould the shape of a normal riverbank. We will then landscape and seed it so it should look like a lovely riverbank again in the near future.

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“We’ve also been planting on some of the islands. These will still look quite small at the moment as you have to give them a chance to establish. Some of them have been damaged so we will be back in spring to replant.”

Reprofiling work underway at the lakeReprofiling work underway at the lake
Reprofiling work underway at the lake

Worthing Borough Council revealed the masterplan in October, with the ambition to turn the space into a science adventure park.

Since then, work has been ongoing to draw up detailed proposals, tender to appoint contractors and secure funding for a list of features. An update is due next year.

Councillor Edward Crouch, Worthing Borough Council’s cabinet member for Digital & Environmental Services, said: “I want to thank once again the excellent team at Five Rivers who have really transformed the lake, turning it into a fantastic place for wildlife to thrive.

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“I’m confident that 2019 will be just as exciting as we push on with our wider ambition to ensure Brooklands is a regional destination for people of all ages.”

Reprofiling work underway at the lakeReprofiling work underway at the lake
Reprofiling work underway at the lake

Here are some of the stories from a busy year at Brooklands Park: