Charles James reports: We have been successful with our lottery funding bid to re- model the village pond.
I have also gone back to SSDC for some additional funding and have been successful in getting a further £1,000 from them.
SSDC, through the community development officer Tim Cook, has been the majority funding source for the project,
The total cost is around £13,500, and this has been funded as follows:
SSDC £6,000
National Lottery £5,450
Horsington Parish Council £1,350
Ted Banks’ fundraising and other donations. £100
This amounts to aound £12,900, so we are not far away, close enough to see it through anyway.
I shall make the dipping platform for the material costs only, so that will not only save a good few pounds but also enable us to make a larger one to suit our school.
Crestmore Construction were awarded the tender and I am visiting daily to ensure they are doing what is planned. They are constructing the shallow water dipping pond area first and they will then move onto the silt trap; between us we are making some adjustments and improvements as the plan develops.
The dipping area will be in filled with stone and then topped with silt to enable planting. This this will create a safe shallow area and firm standing should a child step off the platform.
The scouring under the road was found to be quite severe so cones have been placed there to prevent heavy traffic from getting too close to the edge and the road subsiding.
This will be underpinned with concrete to stabilise the footings and then the wall rebuilt. I have asked for face stone to be used but this is subject to SSDC approval. When I first saw the extent of the scouring to the road I got Highways involved and I negotiated with them to have the underpinning done and wall rebuilt. This will be at Highways cost and will not come out of our pond budget.
This is something that should have been done many years ago, I understand the silt was left there last time to try and prevent further damage but it should have been addressed then.
All progressing well, it is expected to have the gabion baskets installed and partially filled this week.
There have been a few negative comments saying that it will never work, which is very disappointing, but the fact remains that the pond will be much improved and sustainable for future generations.