A POPULAR nature spot is being choked by pollution and too many visitors - and the problem is getting worse.

Hollow Ponds, on the Leytonstone-Wanstead border, has long been a favourite site for families, dog walkers and fishermen across east London, but the Corporation of London, which maintains the land, says the site is in an “unfavourable and declining” condition, with little short-term hope of the situation improving.

The comments were made in a new report from the corporation, based on a survey by Natural England, which blames pollution from road traffic as the main cause of the problem, along with visitors trampling plants and excess weeds strangling rare fauna.

Dr Jeremy Dagley, Conservation Manager of Epping Forest, said the site had in part become a victim of its own success.

He said: “We’ve always had an issue just with the sheer number of people visiting the site. It’s close to the hospital so there’s lots of people coming from there, and visitors coming to enjoy the scenery.

“But the main problem is pollution. It can be a bit disheartening as it’s very difficult to do anything about it, but we’re trying to put our money where our mouth is by funding research into it.”

The main effect of pollution from cars is to fertilise the ground with nitrogen from exhaust fumes. The nitrogen does encourage common grass to grow, but at the same time drowns out rarer plant species.

In response, another tactic from the corporation is to attempt limited removal of topsoil in certain areas to help combat the problem.

But some commentators, such as Green Party activist Ashley Gunstock, said more radical action was needed from “the highest level.”

He added: “We need more investment in public transport and perhaps descaling the hospital into smaller facilities spread out would reduce the number of cars coming along that way to Whipps Cross Hospital.

“It shows that people in the community need to look more into the possibility of getting out of cars in order to help the lungs of London like Hollow Ponds.”

Anne Williams, from the Wanstead and Woodford branch of Friends of the Earth, said she thought the greatest issue facing Hollow Ponds was the declining water levels.

She added: “It’s a very attractive lots of people come to it for all sorts of reasons, fishing, walking their dogs, boating, and it’s a place where you can pretend for a while that you’re not living in London.

“It would be a terrible shame if we lost it but I don’t think that’s likely to happen anytime soon.”

Despite the gloomy outlook for Hollow Ponds, the situation for Epping Forest as a whole looks somewhat better.

Dr Dagley added: “We’ve got 35 compartments of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) within Epping Forest which are monitored by Natural England, and the majority of these are now heading in the right direction in terms of being favourable or improving.

“But unfortunately we’ve got a number of issues which means this will be one of the more difficult areas to turn around. It will be a few years yet probably until Natural England recognises the site as improving.”

“But on a positive note Hollow Ponds is one of the best places to see stag beetles and bats, because of the gravel setting and the water.

“The stag beetle is so rare it's even protected by European law, so it’s still a very valuable part of the forest.”