Essex County Council is opening all Essex Country Parks today (Thursday, May 21) including Great Notley and Cressing Temple Barns.

Following the easing of restrictions announced by the Government, ECC Country Parks team have been working over the past few weeks to put in place necessary safety measures to ensure the parks can open in line with government guidance, and ensure visitors and staff can remain safe.

The parks, car parks and toilets will be open to the public, however the children’s play equipment, visitor centres and cafes will remain closed, in line with government guidance.

The county council asks the public to follow social distancing rules, and use their judgement – consider the time of their visit and the park they choose to visit.

Essex County Councillor Simon Walsh, cabinet member with responsibility for Country Parks said: “Visitors are asked to plan for their visit and consider how they can enjoy our parks in the safest way – this might be considering if they could walk to their local park rather than drive, downloading the parking payment app MiPermit, or avoiding busy times. We also ask visitors to ensure they do not park illegally or in unsafe locations to access the park as this puts pressures on local highways services.

“We will continually monitoring the situation and if social distancing cannot be maintained and we are worried about the safety of visitors or our staff we will have to put in place further restrictions.”

All country parks with open at 9am and close at 5pm.

Once car parks are full staff have to limit access.