What’s happening?
National Grid are undertaking works on the pylon in our car park. This work includes replacing the conductors (lines themselves) as well as the insulators, and maintenance on the pylon structure itself, so major works. This work is part of North London Reinforcement (NLR) project | National Grid ET (and you can find more information by following the link). The same works are also being undertaken on pylons either side of our car park including on the HMWT meadow.
How this affects you?
The main effect to the site will be parking at the visitor centre with a large area of the car park closed off as it falls in the work area leaving us approx. 6 parking spaces and no access to the Lapwing Hide. With this limited parking we have made the decision to close the car park on Tuesdays and Thursdays to allow for volunteer work party attendees to park, but the Visitor Centre and trails will be open as usual. On other days we will have a system in place to stack staff and volunteer parking in the coach bays leaving the 6 spaces free on a first come first served basis and we will display clear signage at the car park gate stating the number of spaces available at a given time.
There will be no coach parking or designated disabled parking available during this time, but there will be a drop off point close to the visitor centre. Another effect that may impact your visit will be noise during certain elements of the work.
Works on the pylon in the meadow have a slightly different timeline and requires a track to be laid across the meadow for access. The track will start being laid on 7 April, there is likely to be minor disruption to access the reserve during this phase. The aim is for work to begin on the meadow pylon on 18 April and completed with track removed by 24 May, so we would again expect minor disruption for track removal.
When’s it happening?
Works will be undertaken in 2025 and 2026 with one side of the line replaced each year. The first stage of 2025 work is the delivery of scaffolding on 7 and 8 April followed by construction of scaffolding gantry over the road on 14-16 April. You may have already seen something similar locally over the last year as other sections of the line were replaced.
We have been given a rough estimation of 1-2 weeks either side of the planned work window, which is 12-29 May, to allow for delivery of equipment and machinery, erection of safety fencing around work area plus contingency so this will cover 28 April – 13 June 2025.
To allow us to plan and arrange for changes in current practices we are going to be working to the maximum time frame given, 28 April – 13 June 2025. Although it is a long period there may be some variation at start or end, but this will not be notified until nearer the time. The planned works will not be undertaken daily in the work window (12 and 29 May) as they may be working on other neighbouring pylons.
So, to be clear, this means there will be very limited parking at Rye Meads 28 April – 13 June 2025.
Getting here, alternative travel arrangements
With the limited parking during this period of work it is a great time to try alternative ways of accessing Rye Meads for your visit! You could make a day out by parking at Stanstead Innings or Amwell and using the array of public foot paths to walk a circular route to Rye Meads enjoying nature enroute before arriving at the Visitor Centre for lunch and a bird friendly coffee and a much-needed loo break!
Rye Meads is also fortunate to have great public transport links with Rye House train station, a 10 min walk away, with lines running from Hertford East to Liverpool Street or Stratford stopping at Broxbourne and Tottenham Hale, Greater Anglia both good junction sites and running two trains per hour during the day.
Alternatively, there is a bus stop on Old Highway Bus stop about a 20min walk away, serviced by the 25 and 25B bus which runs from Harlow to Cheshunt 25 or 25B or the Arriva 310 service running from Hertford to Waltham Cross which stops at Field Way, Stanstead Road, a 30 min walk away 310 .
There is also alternative parking available near Rye Meads at Rye House Gatehouse, Rye House PH or even the layby just outside the reserve, but please do not park on the verges outside the Visitor Centre during this time.
Check back!
Please do make sure to check back in with us before you visit as we will be updating this blog and site information with new information or changes to timings throughout the project.
And do have a look at the North London Reinforcement (NLR) project | National Grid ET website for more information on the works or community relations team who can be contacted on 0800 2793408 or email northlondonreinforcement@nationalgrid.com
Reserve update
Last autumn we shared the news that, as part of an operational review of all RSPB nature reserves, we will be exploring options for the future of Rye Meads during 2025, including potential change of management. We appreciate that those who enjoy visiting RSPB Rye Meads are keen to receive an update on its future. We are currently liaising with a number of organisations on the long-term future of the site as we want to fully explore all options. Thank you to everyone for their patience with this as the process takes time. It is a complex process, and we want to be as thorough as we can with any decision making to ensure the best possible outcome for the wildlife that lives here. We are proud of everything that has been achieved at Rye Meads over the years, and we look forward to continuing to welcome visitors throughout this year. We will provide further updates when we have further news to share.