Coveney Pond – Coveney Parish Council

Pond renovation project: update April 2025

Our pond renovation project has taken a huge step forward: in late February the pond was dredged to remove excess reeds and silt. The work was carried out with great skill by Alan Freeman and overseen by a consultant ecologist, Steve Parnwell, to ensure that disturbance to wildlife was minimised. The pond has been restored to a mixed habitat of open water and reeds.

During the operation, we were delighted to find several Great Crested Newts (as well as Great Diving Beetles and other insects), which were rescued and returned to the pond.

To complete this phase of the project, in late March/early April volunteers cleared the ground on the bank and started underplanting the shrubs with 250 plug plants of native herbaceous perennials. A few were lost to rabbits, but swift action was taken to protect them with netting. When enough rain has fallen, planting will continue and the edge of the pond will be reseeded with a grass and wildflower mix.

Key achievements so far:

• Accessibility: The new path leading down to the pond is suitable for wheelchairs, buggies and those with limited mobility. A wheelchair-accessible picnic bench will be installed shortly.

• Wildlife: We’ve enhanced the habitats for local wildlife, making the pond and its surroundings a sanctuary for birds, amphibians and insects. We’ve confirmed the presence of Great Crested Newts and created an environment where they can breed and thrive.

• Attractiveness: The view over the water has been restored and the tangle of weeds on the bank will be replaced by an attractive backdrop of foliage and flowers.

We are grateful to East Cambridgeshire District Council for awarding us a Pride of Place grant which made this project possible.

Pond renovation project: update January 2025

The first major step in the project has been taken: a new path now leads from the existing concrete path down to the bench by the pond. With a firm surface and a gentle gradient, it will enable all-year access by young and old, those with buggies and the less mobile. At the road end, a little work remains to link the concrete path with the cart track.

Pond renovation project: update December 2024

In response to the consultation circulated earlier this year with Connexions, the Parish Council received useful feedback on residents’ priorities for the area. Top of the list were improving all-weather accessibility and replanting the bank. We’ve now drawn up a detailed planting plan and appointed a contractor to lay a gently sloping path which will enable wheelchairs and buggies to reach the pond. We hope to raise further funds next season to create a path or boardwalk around the front of the pond.

The sketch plan shows the proposed planting scheme and route of the path. The bank will be planted with a mixture of native and ‘cottage garden’ shrubs, perennials and ground cover. These have been chosen to provide food and shelter for wildlife while creating an attractive environment for humans. Many of the existing shrubs will be retained.

On the roadside verge above the bank, one of the trees – a rowan or mountain ash – is not thriving and we plan to replace it with an attractive small tree or shrub suited to the location.

If you’d like to comment on the proposals, please email: naomi.laredo@coveneyparishcouncil.gov.uk

The pond through the years

The pond is managed by the Parish Council on behalf of the community.

The pond had become choked with reeds and the surroundings overgrown by 2023. We consulted that year on plans to rejuvenate the pond area, and grant funding was received to take these plans forward. The original consultation can be found here. Volunteers started work on clearing weeds from the bank in October 2024.

Contrast the state of the pond in January 2021.

Those of you who have lived in the village for a long time will recall that the pond was last regenerated in the early 2000s.

The pond area near the Pound in Coveney looked very different in the 1920s and before the bank was widened.