Blocking Paddington Basin

CRAZY ideas come, and thankfully go, with the latest to completely block Paddington Basin on the Regents Canal with a 'floating park'!

It is a Royal Horticultural Society Young Garden Designer of the Year Tony Woods, who is behind the project to fill the basin with a 'pocket park' as he calls it, completely stopping boating activity, Roger Fox tells us.

Failure

This is the result of the failure of another scheme to create a 'garden bridge' in central London that the planners threw out.

So now the floating garden to create an 'oasis', that will be open daily from dawn to dusk.

The plan is to create the 'pocket park' from a series of interlocking pontoons made from recycled materials made to look like reclaimed wood. And it is already in progress, with them being assembled in Cumbria and will be brought to Uxbridge by road before being transported on the canal to Paddington in time for a planned May opening as part of the Chelsea Fringe.

Large waves

Expecting large waves on the basin Tony Woods believes the the park 'should be stable enough not to be rocked by any waves on the basin's surface. People shouldn't feel any significant movement'.

The Canal & River Trust is not mentioned at all in the scheme—but it does know about it and is involved in its planning.