page_title: Desborough Island
section_title: Uses
hierarchical_section_title: Desborough Island / Uses
caption_attribution_description: English: Waterworks buildings on Desborough Island, River Thames, Surrey
context_page_description: Desborough Island is a 112-acre manmade island in the River Thames on the reach above Sunbury Lock in Surrey, England. It was formed in the 1930s by the digging of a channel – the Desborough Cut – by the Thames Conservancy as a meander cutoff of narrow width on the right bank. The island and cut are named after Lord Desborough, a chairman of the Thames Conservancy.
context_section_description: The island is almost uninhabited: mainly open space, playing fields and water treatment facilities. The island has access over two bridges from Walton Lane; the upper bridge connects a green-buffer part of Weybridge, the other into a similar area of Walton-on-Thames. The parish boundaries are medieval. It covers 112 hectares (277 acres) of which 14 hectares (35 acres) is open space. It is a site of nature conservation importance and is looked after by Elmbridge’s commons management team. The island contains the Walton Water Treatment Works, owned by Affinity Water, and has some sporting facilities. Other parts of its land are owned by the EA, Surrey County and Elmbridge Borough councils. Pleasure boats operate from Walton, making a trip round the island.
  The late 2000s decade saw paths re-laid, seating added and hedges relaid to improve plant diversity and provide animal habitats.
caption: Waterworks on Desborough Island
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