London’s Resource

London's Lakes, Ponds and Reservoirs Resource cont...

Table 2 shows the number of water-bodies identified within each borough. These figures include ponds and other small water-bodies in open landscapes (but excludes garden ponds and the like). Havering has 343 sites, the largest number recorded, representing approximately 19% of the London total. Barnet has 191 sites (10% of the London total) and Hillingdon has 153 sites (8.3% of the London total). These outer London boroughs have higher total numbers due to the farm ponds remaining in the more rural parts of the Green Belt. Conversely, inner London boroughs have far fewer water-bodies; Tower Hamlets, for example, has 13 recorded sites (0.7% of the London total) and Kensington and Chelsea has only 6 recorded sites (0.3% of the London total). Inner London borough site totals would significantly increase with the inclusion of private garden ponds.

Areas of the main reservoirs in London are shown in Table 3.

It is difficult to put the extent of open water in London into any national or regional context. The UK Steering Group report does not attempt to give any indication of the area covered or distribution of any of these open water habitats. However, the concentration of large reservoirs in and around London is significant.