Express & Star

Chasewater Boating pool now covered with grass after duck poo pile-up

The project to drain and fill in Chasewater's boating pool is nearly complete.

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Staffordshire County Council revealed the plans at the start of the year as it was becoming too expensive to continuously clean the bird poo out of the pool.

Ducks and geese ended up settling at the pool next to the Innovation Centre after visitors were stopped from feeding them near the edge of the reservoir.

But as a result, the bird poo built up in the pool, raising fears it was damaging protected plant life in the connecting reservoir and it was drained.

The boating pool before it was filled in

Council bosses decided the pool, which once featured an island, would stay drained and filled in.

Staffordshire County Council, which owns the country park, between Brownhills and Burntwood, took over the management of the country park in 2014.

The pool was once a popular attraction for boaters and residents. It is now covered with grass.

Chasewater Reservoir is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest because it has some nationally important features, including its aquatic plants, which bosses felt were crucial to preserve.

Lichfield District Council had to grant permission for the lake, which was also used for canoeing, to be filled in, grassed and landscaped before work could be carried out.

Burntwood and Norton Canes parish councils also gave their support to the plans before the pool was drained in October, before tons of top soil were brought in to fill it.

As the final touches are made to complete the pools transformation, a sensory garden is being created at another part of Chastewater, however, the council has stated this is a separate project to the boating pool and will be unaffected by it being filled in.

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