"a sustainable approach to the natural environment"
News From Cransley Eco Park CiC
31st October 2009: TLC for the trees – yet another great day with brilliant results many thanks to all those who came for your hard work, and a special mention to those from Tower Gate.
23rd November 2009: Taming the Dam Wall – Great thanks to the teams from the Environment agency in Kettering, a fantastic day with amazing results – Pictures now on the site.
13/10/09 Thanks to all of those who came to see us today at the Northampton University Volunteer Fair, remember dates for your diary:
23rd October - Come and help us tame the dam wall - essential maintainance work to ensure the continued safety of the reservoir.
31st October - Join the Halloween fun by spreading a little TLC through a section of the trees and help build some bird boxes to provide great nesting possibilies fro our bird life
If you would like further information on any of these dates or for other possibilities, email volunteer@cransleyecopark.co.uk or call Alison at Groundwork on 01536 526 453. Hope to see you soon.
12/10/09 - We are now on Facebook check us out.
19/08/09 Our first community project went very well, around 15 volunteers helped to rebuild a secton of the banks, we still have some way to go to get around the three trees that are in danger of falling into the reservoir, but what an achievment, and it looks great too. Many thanks to all those who have helped make this happen, and yes I did dry off eventualy. But please dont forget to come back and continue to help us
03/07/09 We have plenty of volunteering oportunities available, if you can spare even just 1 hour a week we would love to hear from you. See our volunteer page for more inforation.
24/06/09 Another year gone, but significant progress on site and off. We are now in control of the non water side of the dam wall, it has now been mown consecutively and will hopefully recover well to re grass and ensure that the dam wall is preserved and looked after for another 200 years. Progress in the trees and woodland areas has also been underway this last winter and a woodland management plan is now in place to ensure we maintain and work with this area to the best potential. Plans are almost put together and we will be consulting all parties with a concern once these are finalised, watch this space ofr further details. We have now achieved the status of Community Interest company, and have proven to the regulators we are serious about our commitment to the community and to the environment, to become a registered and recognised “not-for profit” organisation. We have also agreed a new 25 year lease with Cransley Sailing Club and are confident that we will be able to support each other grow. The new fencing and gates for the end of the Cransley arm are now on site and will be installed in the next few weeks. Should you have any questions regarding the work I would invite you to contact myself and I will be happy to help. Please feel free to pass this information to others that may find it of relevance.
13/11/2008 Has it really been a whole year since we took ownership of Cransley reservoir? I now write with confidence that we are well underway with the maintenance work and as you will have all seen we have made quite significant progress. Not least with the dam slopes. It was hard back breaking work , but the end result means that we are now on top of the requirements from the Environmental Agency and the Dam Surveyor. There are some finishing touches to do but the majority of the work is done. We have marked out a possible new access road onto the site and are under way with the planning applications which we will be speaking to everyone concerned when we have all the drawings and plans available, though I will say again if anyone has any questions please do not hesitate to contact myself. We still have much more to do and would ask if anyone is looking for something to occupy an afternoon or morning we would be glad to hear from you. We have sourced, many thanks to Philip Berry, a supply of clean hardcore to help reassure the banks and start on some of the infill work for maintenance. Please note that there will be vehicles coming to and from the site, and it is kindly asked if you could be aware of any potential hazards. On a slightly different note we are trying to compile a historic record of the site and would ask if anyone has pictures or articles relating to the site or memories of the area we would love to hear from you. Should you have any questions regarding the work I would invite you to contact myself and I will be happy to help.
18/07/08 We are now into our 2nd Newsletter, and at this stage we are now almost coming to the end of our assessment period which will hopefully show us what work needs to be done to bring us back to a stage where we will be able to keep on top of the site. As you are aware there is a TPO on the site, and we have been in long and exhausting discussions with the Local Council and also the Forestry Commission, though we have now received approval of our Felling License and this now means we can start the repair and maintenance on the trees on the site and will also enable us to finalise the assessment of the site. I have attached the details of the felling license that has now been approved and I would welcome anyone who has questions regarding this to contact myself. We are looking into planning permissions for the site but as yet have now firm or definitive plans. I will let you all know when we have this information available. We have ordered new fencing for the site and this should be being installed within the next 2 months, this will be mainly to replace the fencing at the end of the cransley arm and to re-establish the public footpath boundary on the Thorpe Malsor side of the reservoir. Work will also be carried out to repair the existing railings along the foot path and dam. We are also planning to re instate the gate way just after the OD’s Hut on the cransley side and would ask that this becomes the boundary for persons using the sailing club facilities. On a different note we have been having reports of people trespassing on the site and causing disruption to the local residents. We would ask that you all keep an eye out for these occurrences and that you let us know about these. If you see anyone damaging property or if they are causing a disturbance I would ask you inform ourselves and we will notify the authorities. Finally a reminder that the site is private property and that some of the buildings are in a bad state of repair and present a safety risk, we would ask that you avoid the Filter house area and also the garages opposite. Should you have any questions regarding the work I would invite you to contact myself and I will be happy to help.
17/05/2008 We currently have workers on site at the filter house and machinery that will be operating in that area. The work happening is to remove the Filter tanks and pipe work that is no longer in use. Although we have had to remove some trees on site around the property to enable this work to happen we do not envisage any need to remove any further trees from the site at this time. As such the local council, forestry commission and environment agency are involved in ensuring we keep the removal of trees and disruption to the area to a minimum. We are hoping to have full plans of further proposed works shortly and will contact all parties concerned to discuss these. Whilst work is being carried out I would like to bring up the following points to ensure safety for both those using the facilities and our workers. Please remember that whilst the sailing, fishing clubs and reservoir house have a right to access and for the sailing, fishing clubs use of the car park and their facilities. We would like to remind you that the property is privately owned and the use of the access, car park and reservoir are only to be used by members of the sailing club and fishing club. The access to the public is restricted to the public footpaths that run down the fields and across the dam wall and the footpath that runs from the field through the Oak woodland area to the south of the access road and along behind the Reservoir House. With the work being carried out at the filter house we would ask that care is taken on entering or leaving the grounds, and that the sailing club and fishing club members stay away from the filter house area. There is currently a steel container behind the sailing club house that is being used for storage and requires access at all times. We hope that the work will be complete within 2-3 weeks and are endeavouring to cause as little disruption as possible. Should you have any questions regarding the work I would invite you to contact myself and I will be happy to help.
