Evening All

This update is very important for the future of Kings Pond so please do take the time to read it.  It’s probably the most important one I’ve sent this year!

On Wednesday 8th January 2025, Alton Town Council have a full council meeting taking place at the Assembly Rooms. Please note this is a change of venue! Whilst at the time of writing the agenda item for Kings Pond hasn’t been published, we know the pond is due to be discussed!

The council have kept this change of venue very quiet and unless you read the council website, you wouldn’t know! This is therefore a perfect publicity stunt for them - they hire a big venue on an cold night in January and if people don’t turn out, they can use it to claim that people no longer care about the pond and use it as a mandate to force through their plans. 

We therefore need to make sure that this does not happen!!!

We need people who care about the pond and want it retained as a large body of water on the River Wey as it is now to turn out in their droves, ideally to speak and create a very clear narrative that we do not want to lose the pond as we know it. It’s a chance to paint a very clear picture of public feeling BUT if we do not do so, the council can easily create their own narrative to justify the changes. Whilst this may be cynical - it’s not without reason as we’ve seen it all before! 

So what can you do?

Firstly, please attend the meeting! I cannot stress enough how much bums on seats matters! Bring friends, family, neighbours or anyone else you know who wants to save the pond! Attendance is critical! 

Next, if you can - be willing to speak out! You don’t need to say much, but simply stating that you oppose plans for separating the pond and river is something that by law they need to document in their recorded minutes. Therefore if one person after another does this, it paints a picture very clearly that we don’t want to lose the pond abd creates a written narrative of this opposition in the minutes. It also makes their position of perusing plans easier to challenge! 

Please also show your support to other pro-pond speakers, by applauding etc. Don’t feel you have to be polite and applaud anyone who doesn’t represent your view and speaks out against the pond… they won’t applaud you and it will mislead the press if present. An anti-pond view met with silence tells a story!

Please reach out to neighbours, friends, family or others who you know care about the pond.  I really cannot put into words how important this opportunity is for saving Kings Pond!  If the council get the upper hand at this meeting - be under no illusion - the opportunity to save the pond will have become infinitely harder - a low attendance will be seen as a mandate to push ahead with their plans. 

A few tips and pointers:

• Be clear about what you support or oppose. Simply saying “keep the pond” can be twisted because the council plans also feature a small pond. Instead consider something like “I want to keep the pond as a large body of open water on the River Wey” or “I oppose separating the pond and the river” or “We should keep the current pond and dredge it”.
• If you aren’t fond of public speaking, please try… by all means keep a representation short - so long as you are clear about what matters to you it will be recorded and it will help!
• Remember this is about the future of the pond, so keep focused on that - there are many other problems like pollution, footpaths, anti-social behaviour which are important BUT focusing on anything other than the pond’s future will detract from the overall argument.
• Avoid speculative remarks - for example many people see the plans a a precursor to developing the site - whilst this is a possibility we lack any evidence which in turn makes points like this easy to dismiss and removes credibility from the argument.

So what might you want to include?

• The pond has historic value in telling Alton’s often forgotten industrial past as a mill pond. 
  The detriment to existing wildlife is huge - many species will be lost and habitat destroyed.
• It will see most if not all fish eating birds lost as the food stock will not be sustained in the new plans (Grebe, Kingfisher, Cormorant, Heron, Egret etc)
• The swans would need to be relocated as the new offline pond would have insufficient space for them to be able to take flight.
• The new plans leave the large island which is nesting grounds for many birds and our heronry more susceptible to predation and human interference.
• The plans do not reflect past public feeling.
• The plans have no guarantee of success and could be detrimental to the site.
• The plans will be vastly more expensive than a dredging option.
• The time between dredges could be vastly extended with the addition of silt traps as proposed by South East Water.
• Removing the pond does not address the silt problem - it only moves it.
• Ideas are being sold without having first completed flood modelling.
• Removing the pond does not address the pollutant problems - only allows these pollutants to be washed further downstream.
• Sewage discharge in the North Wey is problematic and therefore invalidates the downstream river health argument.
• The offline plans mean the site will be susceptible to drying out - thus rendering their ‘wetlands’ anything but wet in the summer!

There’s many other reasons besides. If you need help with anything or want me to advise based on my background in wildlife, I’m happy to do so.  Please just email me and I’ll do my best to reply!

So in closing, please remember the change of venue: The Assembly Rooms! The meeting starts at 7pm on Wednesday 8th January! There’s no obligation to stay for the full meeting - many will likely leave after Kings Pond is discussed! But being there matters! As I say - there are no words to stress how important a well attended meeting is for the pond’s future.

Let’s make this a huge success for our cause! Please do spread the word. If we all do our bit - we can make a very clear statement - we do not want to lose the Kings Pond that we know and love for some half-baked alternative!

For those wanting to be more involved with the Kings Pond residents group - you can visit their website at www.kpps.co.uk 

Any questions, please do email me: agfurnival@outlook.com

Regards
Anthony