Horsham Road’s hideaway pond restored

Surrey County Council (SCC) have completed restoration work to the Horsham Road Pond in Alfold.  The project is an excellent example of the working relationship Waverley’s Engineering Team have with SCC and partners when it comes to flood and water management in Waverley.

The pond was previously in poor condition and had shrunk in size due to building waste being deposited in the area, resulting in flooding on several occasions with excess overgrowth blocking light and preventing biodiversity and wildlife from being able to thrive. 

With this vast undertaking at hand, the council and relevant teams got to work! 

The pond was cleared, dredged and restored back to its original size. Drainage inlets were repaired, de-silted and ‘green’ headwalls built resolving highway flooding issues and increasing flood resilience to nearby properties. They installed a weir (a low dam built across a river to raise the level of water upstream) to help hold back flood waters and maintain year-round water depth for wildlife.  

The team seeded the surrounding area with a mix of wildflowers which will blossom as we move further into summer, seeing an abundance of native plants sprouting up to create a rich and beautiful area for the community to enjoy.  

Additionally, they worked with The Skill Mill who operate using hand tools to carry out ditching works much more sympathetic to the environment as opposed to using machinery typically used by large contractors. 

Their work won’t end this summer though, with plans to continue into autumn with the Arboriculture Team planting hedgerows along the back edge of the pond to further promote wildlife in the area. 

These pond works help manage future heavy rainfall by ‘slowing the flow’, to turn Alfold into a much-needed flood storage area.