Village fury at safety experts' plan to fence off pond

7:27am Tuesday 28th November 2006

Villagers have hit out at "ridiculous"

plans to fence off their pond so that no one falls in.

Health and safety experts have said the "water hazard" in exclusive West Itchenor, near Chichester, should have fencing around one side and a sign warning of the dangers of deep water.

But residents in the upmarket community, where two-bedroom homes can sell for £800,000, have raised a petition with almost 100 signatures and a stormy parish council meeting heard accusations the pond was being treated more like a fjord.

Village resident James Wilkinson said: "It has got everyone panicked. People don't want the village to change.

"It does all seem a bit ridiculous. As far as I know the pond has a good accident record in that nobody has been hurt there.

It is more of a muddy puddle than a big open pond."

Mr Wilkinson added: "It is a very laidback area and very beautiful and people don't want to see it change because of things that might happen.

"People don't want to see fences going up and the village losing its charm."

The small pond is a home for ducks, carp and a water vole. It has a bench along one side and is popular with families who visit to feed the ducks.

This month's parish newsletter dropped the bombshell on residents saying: "As a parish council we are obliged to undertake risk assessments in the village and have been doing so for the past 20 months.

"This year we asked Rospa (the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) to undertake a safety audit of the pond and this has identified some action that needs to be taken.

"As a public body we are bound to respond accordingly where any potential areas of risk have been identified.

"We appreciate that for some of you this may seem like health and safety gone mad but that is how it is."

Council chairman Louise Goldsmith said the authority had an obligation under the Occupiers' Liability Act.

She said: "We realised we were not covered by insurance on the pond. We as a council own 50 per cent of it and lease the other 50 per cent.

"We were advised by our insurers that we should have a risk assessment through Rospa. We have had to do this. We have not made this up.

"We have promoted the planned changes which seemed to have caused a lot of offence."

The council has negotiated to have the demand for a warning sign dropped.

Tony Anstee, chairman of the Itchenor Society, said: "The pond is a popular feature.

As a nature reserve it is a real attribute for the village.

"Any fencing and other similar precautions would detract from it."

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