Planners reject pond plan on safety grounds

Curridge landowner wanted place to hold water from a boggy part of his site

A LANDOWNER has been barred from making a huge ‘unsafe’ pond amid fears it could cause neighbouring homes to flood.

Concerns were raised also about the structural integrity of the banks of the pond, which would be built in Curridge, how it could be unsafe and a risk to playing children.

Seton Fairhurst, who owns the land at Vine Cottage, applied for planning permission to build a pond to hold water from a boggy part of his site.

Embankments have already been built, without planning permission, but the pond had not yet been filled with water.

On December 18, neighbours who live nearby told the West Berkshire Council western area planning committee they were worried the pond could cause their properties to flood.

Henry Peto, who lives immediately downstream of where the pond would be, said his home was badly flooded in the summer of 2007.

He said: “Climate change is here to stay, with flash floods becoming the norm.”

Mr Peto took issue with the ‘huge’ body of water that would be in the pond – half an acre that would be one or two metres deep.

He said. “It’s like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.”

Cyril Wood, who lives nearby, was also worried about the integrity of the pond banks.

He said: “If it were to break, my property would be in jeopardy.”

A council engineer raised concerns about the structural integrity of the embankment.

Principal engineer Stuart Clarke said: “I have seen nothing in the reports that has convinced me the embankment is fit for purpose.

“What is there at the moment is unsafe.”

Mr Clarke said he was also concerned about children playing near the pond who could fall and be ‘seriously injured’.

It was unclear whether trees would be chopped down to make way for the pond.

The landowner had already chopped down 30 trees, according to Mr Peto.

But council planner Sian Cutts said no trees would be chopped down.

Jill Scrivener, a planning consultant representing the landowner, said the land was boggy and could not be used for anything else.

She said “no mature trees” have been felled, only some small ash trees.

She added: “No further trees would need to be felled.”

Regarding the structural integrity of the embankment, Harvey Rodda, a flooding consultant also representing the landowner, said new material would be used and it would be improved.

The pond would stop water from the bog seeping on to the nearby road, according to Mrs Scrivener, and improve the quality of the land.

But Mr Clarke, the council engineer, took a different view.

He said the harm of flooding on the road, caused by the pond, could be “life-threatening”.

Chieveley Parish Council chairman Mike Belcher raised concerns about rabbits damaging the pond wall.

He said: “In this area, we do have a rabbit problem.

“They will get in there, so we are questioning the integrity.”

Councillors voted unanimously to refuse permission.