Kingfisher Pond Restoration Starts But Is It Too Late?

KINGFISHER POND RESTORATION STARTS BUT IS IT TOO LATE?

Today a SCDC planning offier sent through some photos of the kingfisher pond or the beautifully cleared hole where it once stood. Below is an edited version of my email to the planning officer in charge. His photos are posted here as well. I am also posting a photo of the pond I took 1 year before the developer started work out on site so you can see the difference. My edited email is as follows:

‘Many thanks for passing on this information and the accompanying photographs…

However, whilst it is positive news that restoration of the pond has started, the state of the kingfisher pond 3 years after…. (the developer) started work out on Phase 1 is totally shocking. This hot weather will not help and I would anticipate that the pond will be empty within a couple of weeks unless groundwater and surface run off can start to refill it quickly; but that will largely depend on having some rain.

However, the question remains: how on earth did works out on Phase 1 result in this ecological disaster. The report that …. (the developer) produced stated firmly that lack of rainfall had caused the groundwater problems experienced by Longstanton and the kingfisher pond. The report concluded that normalised rainfall would rectify the situation. Rainfall was normalised by early this year and yet the promised recovery has failed to materialise, thereby calling into question the report’s conclusion. .

It is clear to this community that groundwater levels have reduced since de-watering/ drainage works took place out on Phase 1 in 2015. It is also clear that questions still remain as to how this has happened and whether the drainage plans for Northstowe made this disaster inevitable……

This community needs answers to what has happened here in our village and why the kingfisher pond has been impacted so badly. There simply has to be an explanation for the reduction in the groundwater levels experienced across this village. If it is not caused by Northstowe de-watering and the drainage scheme, what is the cause because clearly lack of rain is not the answer?

I sincerely hope that an independent investigation will be carried out so Longstanton will be given the answers that it needs not only to satisfy our concerns but to prevent this sort of ecological disaster happening again within our village or across the surrounding area’

2014

NOW AFTER SCRUB CLEARANCE (NECESSARY DUE TO THE LOW WATER LEVEL!)

 

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