Thursday 11 June 2009

For Jane and Big Dave!



Well this is it, best I could get. It certainly looks like water in there - my husband is certain it is - he reckons he can see ripples on the water!

No vehicles or people in sight now - just a twenty foot container a short distance away. Very difficult to get close up to it without trespassing!


13 comments:

  1. It looks to me like a water managed nature reserve, with the islands. Like a water-filled gravel pit without the gravel.

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  2. It doesn't look quite such an eyesore after all does it!

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  3. The plot thickens! It'll be lovely if it is a nature reserve. It's not just got flooded from all the rain we had has it?

    I shall be watching this space. Mmmmm!

    Julie xx

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  4. Ha!

    I have emailed Big Dave at work and asked him to take a look if he has time: otherwise you'll have to wait until this evening for a reply from him. But I think he probably got it right when he said it might be a conservation scheme or a reservoir (it's very fancy for one of those, though, with those islands).

    (You managed to avoid the rude dog this time. That's good!)

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  5. We haven't had enough rain here to flood an area like that, Julie.

    Jane, I like the conservation scheme idea! Hope that's what Big Dave will confirm. Didn't see any rude dogs at all today - except my own!

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  6. I'd never dare with Big Dave but it looks to me a bit like the Circus Maximus - with traffic-calming islands in the middle to appease the PC brigade. Watch out for drunken chariot racers on Saturday nights.

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  7. You won't need rain to flood it if the water table is high enough--water will just seep in, I should think (can you tell we've done a lot of groundworks up here?). I shall get an official opinion from Big Dave (FRICS and general know-it-all) when he comes upstairs with my spritzer.

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  8. Ooh I've never seen any drunken chariot racers - yet, Nicola! I'll keep my camera handy just in case!

    Those fields get very soggy, Jane. There are ditches and dykes all round that area that are sometimes full to the brim of water. Maybe that's all it is, something to sort out the drainage in the lower field . . .

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  9. Big Dave has spoken. What follows is my interpretation of his comments, which might be somewhat off-kilter as I'm now on my second glass of wine. Do not treat it as professional advice, more as the ramblings of a woman who spends far too much time online.

    He confirms that it's been dug to hold water, possibly for irrigation of surrounding fields; it won't depend on rainfall to fill it, but groundwater, which seeps in constantly (we have a well which remains full so long as we don't leave the hose on, even if it hasn't rained for weeks: it's the same principle).

    If you are unhappy with this development, you should ring both your county council AND your district council, and speak to the planning department of both. Tell them that this giant hole has appeared, and ask them what it is and what it's for. If it has planning permission they will be able to tell you those things, as it's a matter of public record so they are obliged to provide the information; if it doesn't, then either it's allowed under permitted development (eg it's agricultural) or it's illegal development. If it's the latter, the planners will be pleased you let them know.

    It doesn't look like an agricultural reservoir, because of those islands: they're expensive to form, and most farmers would (in Big Dave's experience) prefer something cheap and functional. Nor does it look like a conservation project because that big soil bund hasn't been landscaped at all, it's probably just been created in order to
    use up the soil which has been dug out to create the lake.

    He is now intrigued, and wants to know exactly what it is. You will have to let us now or he might turn up on your doorstep to work it out for himself. Be thankful you don't live within skiving-distance of Yorkshire!

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  10. PS: Teresa, if it had been built to sort out the drainage chances are there would have been land-drains incorporated into the project which would have meant that long ditches feeding into the lake would have been dug, pipework and/or French drains put in, and then they'd have been filled in again. This suggests to me that they're primarily after the water, not trying to drain the surrounding land.

    Just don't get me started on septic tanks. We installed our own a few years ago and at the beginning of May this year put in reed-beds to deal with the outflow.

    Good grief. I used to be glamorous. Now I know about land-drains, effluent and septic tanks and don't wear makeup any more. How did this happen?

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  11. Thanks for all that Jane and Big Dave!
    I'm not unhappy about it - I think I was more afraid they'd started on the creation of the new salt marsh (which it obviously isn't now!)

    But I shall keep an eye on things and keep you posted as to any further developments.

    I bet you are still glamorous - you're just someone who is glamorous with a vast knowledge of drainage!!

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