{"id":4746,"date":"2016-05-17T17:12:11","date_gmt":"2016-05-17T17:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/horsington.blog2.idnet.com\/?p=4746"},"modified":"2016-05-17T21:39:11","modified_gmt":"2016-05-17T21:39:11","slug":"parish-council-unveils-plans-to-bring-the-pond-back-to-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/horsington.blog2.idnet.com\/?p=4746","title":{"rendered":"Parish Council unveils plans to bring the pond back to life"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Parish Council has been working hard to resolve the future of the pond and has come up with an imaginative scheme to transform it from a lifeless splodge of mud into a living pond of which we can all be proud.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The problem with the present regime is that the pond silts up, and has to be cleared every 7 years or so. It is no longer permissible to simply cart it away and spread it on fields and lawns \u2013 it has to be tested and analysed and taken away by licensed operators, and that means expense. Furthermore, once it has been cleared, it is lifeless, and plant and animal life has to start all over again.<\/p>\n

You may be wondering why Horsington Pond has remained empty and choked with silt for the past few months. During the planning process, led by Charles James and Ian Snowden, they found that the roadside wall has been undermined by the water. So SSDC has agreed to repair the wall and complete the stone facing, which was never done when the \u00a0concrete was installed some years ago.<\/p>\n

The pond has remained empty, in order to arrange quotes and for inspections, and it will remain empty until the roadside wall has been repaired. Then, subject to successful funding, \u00a0until the project is completed.<\/p>\n

The Proposal: A living sustainable habitat<\/strong><\/p>\n

Charles James (who \u00a0installed the new sluice gates supplied by Kev Wigley)<\/a> did some research and took and advice from DEFRA, The Pond Conservation Trust (now the Freshwater Habitats Trust), the Environment agency, and various other specialists in the field of pond life and aquatic plants and wildlife. He has formulated a plan that entails creating three specific areas to create and maintain the freshwater habitat.<\/p>\n

\"Pond<\/p>\n

At the lodge end,<\/strong> where the water enters, a silt trap will be built. The natural level of the pond will allow the silt to be removed while still maintaining sufficient depth to allow the pond life to survive.<\/p>\n

At the other end<\/strong> there will be a still water frog and newt pond. This will attract a host of aquatic creatures, and provide a fantastic educational resource for the school, and for visitors to the village.<\/p>\n

The main body of the pond<\/strong> will be relatively silt free and provide a home for native fish such as minnows, sticklebacks, and all associated pond life naturally found in a freshwater pond with natural floating aquatic plants.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Pond, showing the proposed silt area (nearest camera) and \u00a0the still water area.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Parish Council\u2019s aim is to educate people,\u00a0 and at the same time enhance Horsington\u2019s most precious asset.<\/p>\n

There is a cost involved, and help is being sought from the National Lottery and Viridor. The funding is being co-ordinated by Ian Snowden.<\/p>\n

There will be an exhibition at the Village Fete on 11th<\/sup> June, where all questions will be answered. And no doubt you will be able to contribute to the cost.<\/p>\n

The Blog has sometimes \u00a0criticised the Council, but this time we say \u00a0\u201cwell done\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Parish Council has been working hard to resolve the future of the pond and has come up with an imaginative scheme to transform it from a lifeless splodge of mud into a living pond of which we can all be proud. The problem with the present regime is that the pond silts up, and … Continue reading “Parish Council unveils plans to bring the pond back to life”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2757],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6glYD-1ey","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/horsington.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/horsington.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/horsington.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/horsington.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/horsington.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4746"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/horsington.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4760,"href":"http:\/\/horsington.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4746\/revisions\/4760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/horsington.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/horsington.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/horsington.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}