Northstowe to blame for empty ponds in Longstanton, says report

Construction work on a new town is to blame for the emptying of nearby village ponds, a report concluded.

Water levels began to drop at the Kingfisher pond in Longstanton in Cambridgeshire in 2015, after work began on 10,000-home Northstowe.

Developers needed to "dewater" the site, lowering water levels in the gravel aquifers that fed the ponds.

South Cambridgeshire District Council, which commissioned the report, said it was developing an action plan.

Longstanton resident Daniel Fulton said all the village ponds have lost their water since work began on Northstowe - which is about a mile away - with knock-on effects for wildlife.

"The greatest concern now is that we know the cause is Northstowe, but don't know the mechanism by which the water loss is being caused and that's what we're now asking the district council to look into," he said.

The independent report by HR Wallingford found construction work between 2015 and 2016 "lowered groundwater levels to 5m (16ft) below ground level"

Levels remain about 0.3m (1ft) below pre-2015 recordings, despite "above average rainfall" between December 2020 and February 2021, it added.

The council's lead cabinet member for planning, Dr Tumi Hawkins, said: "Once we have agreed [an] action plan, we'll be setting out the steps we are taking to progress the recommendations in the HR Wallingford report.

"The recent report commissioned shows how water levels in the Kingfisher Pond are impacted by not just local conditions in Northstowe, but by the groundwater conditions across a wider area.

"It is not a case of simply taking water from one location to another."

The report recommends the monitoring of ponds and ground water levels and adds if the water does not return to pre-2015 levels, Kingfisher Pond may need to be deepened.

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