Epsom
| TOP STORIES |  | | | | | | | FEATURES | | | | | | MAYOR NEWS | | | | BIZARRE LONDON | | | TRAVEL | | | | COMPETITIONS | | |
|
|
|
Upgrade for Ashtead Park
 |
| Leafy: Cash for Ashtead Park |
Ashtead Park is about to have a £50,000 makeover to continue the work that Leatherhead Angling Society is doing to turn it into a wildlife reservation that is easily accessible to nature lovers and anglers alike.
Among the plans are the creation of a safe dipping pond for children and the felling of trees that are leaning at dangerous angles over the main ponds in the park.
The Society intents to clear out some of the huge and voracious pike in the ponds that snatch at baby birds and other fish, and continue to the work on improving drainage and the surface of the paths. Improvements to the car park are also on the agenda and removing vegetation that is threatening to choke the ponds
Ashtead Park, off the A24 in Ashtead Village is now managed by Surrey Wildlife Trust on behalf of Mole Valley District Council.
The ponds in the park which are fished by the Leatherhead Angling Society became overgrown until the Society drew up ambitious plans to overcome years of neglect.
| “The work we have done so far has cost us quite a lot in blood, sweat and tears but we hope it has been beneficial.” | | David Janson |
|
"We knew we had a mountain to climb but we didn't realise just how high it was," the society's public relations officer David Janson told Ashtead Residents Association last Wednesday.
It has already put in a huge amount of work round the ponds with the help of EDF, the energy company who supplied volunteer workers to kickstart the project, and the support of local firms and club members who join regular Sunday work parties.
Now the next phase is about to start. The Environment Agency has offered a grant of £20,000 towards the cost which could reach up to £50,000 over the next few years.
"The work we have done so far has cost us quite a lot in blood, sweat and tears but we hope it has been beneficial," Mr Janson told the ARA.
"We want it to be a much nicer, safer place. The paths do need improving. In the winter they can be treacherous - quite dangerous and you can't walk round without getting covered in mud."
3:41pm Wednesday 7th May 2008
Print 
Email this 
Comment
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
