CONTROVERSIAL plans to spend £170,000 of police compensation money on a leaky pond are likely to go ahead next year.

The Met agreed to pay the money to the Corporation of the City of London as compensation for building a temporary muster base on Wanstead Flats for the Olympic Games.

The cash has been earmarked for the £450,000 redevelopment of Jubilee Pond on Wanstead Flats, and the Corporation has submitted a planning application to Redbridge Council.

But members of the Wanstead Parklands Community Project (WPCP) say the pond only needs attention because contractors hired by the Corporation made a mess of re-lining work carried out 10 years ago.

WPCP member Alan Cornish, said: “I’m not objecting to work being done on Jubilee Pond, but they should be spending the police money elsewhere rather than on something which they cocked up in the first place.”

The Corporation consulted residents on what they would like the money to be spent on in October last year.

The Jubilee Pond project received the most votes, thanks in large part to a campaign by members of another conservation group – The Lakehouse Lake Project (LLP).

LLP member, Robert Howell, 59, said: “I know there are those who object to this money being spent on Jubilee Pond.

“But I understand the Corporation are also putting £200,000 towards it, so they are making a substantial contribution.

“We need to be very pragmatic about this. If we allow ourselves to get sidetracked with convoluted arguments then nothing will happen.”

The project will also benefit from an £80,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund which needs to be spent by March 2013.

Mr Howell said re-lining would ensure the future of wildlife in the pond and that improved access would allow more people to enjoy it.

The plans also include a picnic area, a natural play area for children and bicycle parking spaces.

But WPCP Honorary Secretary Richard Arnopp, said: “We do not want to be seen to be picking fights with the Corporation for the sake of it.

“But, given that it was their contractors who made a mess of the pond, we would have preferred it if they had paid for this work out of their general funds.”

Paul Thomson, Superintendent of Epping Forest said: “The decision to fund Jubilee Pond was based on a public consultation with the majority of the community consulted expressing a preference for Jubilee Pond.

"In addition to the MPS £170,000, the City of London is paying up to £200,000 towards the renovation, together with a contribution from HLF to an easy access trail around the lake. 

"CoL is also likely to refurbish the Jubilee Pond Car Park car park at an additional cost.”



A spokeswoman for the Corporation added: "The current failing of the lake was caused by the drying out of the clay liner during filling rather than incompetence of our contractors."

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