20 Mar 2026
Lasting improvements to Verulamium Park’s artificial lakes are moving slowly ahead, SADC has revealed.
At the end of January 2025, councillors on the public realm committee approved plans for new wetlands, nature walks and plant beds, alongside long-awaited enhancements to the water quality of the lakes.
This would include dredging the heavily silted lakes and narrowing them by recycling the silt to provide highly fertile planting areas around their edges, reducing direct access to the water and helping deter people from feeding the geese. Nature walks will then wind through these areas.
Behind the scenes, a new councillor working group was established to oversee the lakes project, and this is now in the process of procuring designs. Talks are also taking place with potential contractors to help shape the proposals at an early stage to reduce the risk of costly revisions.
SADC strategic director for community and place delivery Chris Traill revealed that they have spent the past 12 months completing a number of major improvements to the park.
“This has included progressing the project to enhance the park’s lakes and the adjoining meadow as well as projects to improve other areas of the park.
“Funding was secured to procure an elevated steel footpath that was installed last spring at the persistently-flooded meadow.
“This allowed us to open up the meadow and the park’s popular St Michael Street entrance to the public.
“Over the last 12 months, we have delivered a wide range of other improvements with several partners including the Environment Agency, Hertfordshire County Council’s Countryside Management Service and Friends of Verulamium Park.
“This has included the restoration of the River Ver to its more natural state as well as the creation of new wetlands which have long-term ecological benefits.
“We have also planted more than 4,000 new trees at the old golf course with species selected to support pollinators and nesting birds.
“Last month, we completed the restoration of a 450-metre stretch of the Ver trail, laying a new footpath and installing a new, more accessible bridge.
“All of this work – and the work that we are currently undertaking – is a demonstration of our commitment to improve Verulamium Park, enhancing its biodiversity and making it an even more attractive destination for residents and visitors.”
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the park a new suicide prevention bench has been installed in the park near the old toilets by the lake.
The bench, funded by a local resident who raised £2,000 in memory of their brother, includes QR codes providing access to support services.
As part of the ongoing project to Revitalise the Ver, works have continued at Reach 2, which covers the section from the Causeway to Holywell Hill, and are now substantially complete
Approximately 170 tonnes of gravel were added to form three large riffles and several berms in this section. These features are designed to narrow the river slightly, create varied flow, and provide suitable conditions for plant growth following last year’s tree thinning. The riffles are particularly important for trout spawning, and trout are now present in reasonable numbers throughout the park in both Reach 1 and Reach 2.
In addition, several thousand bulbs have been planted with support from the Ver Valley Society, including approximately 570 wild daffodils, 25 wood anemones, 25 bluebells, around 120 snowdrops, and 1,000 snake’s head fritillaries.
