Funding availibility for creation of new lake?

[philocalist]

Just throwing this out in the hope that someone may well have the info at their fingertips, as an alternative to me spending the next several hours on Google.

 

Long story short, a new acquaintance owns greenbelt land and is seriously interested in creating what may well turn into a serious fishing lake on there (and apparently, planning is unlikely to be problematic, as far as the local council are concerned). When I say 'serious', he's talking about a venture that may end up excavating a new lake extending to 200m in length, with an appropriate width, to be used primarily as a mixed fishing venue, rather than a dedicated match-type venue ... and as a life-long pleasure angler, he has no interest whatsoever of overstocking to create 200lb-plus nets, or stuffing the venue with carp - it's going to be a 'proper' mixed fishery.

 

His 'talents' lie in being able to work like a donkey, and having access to the correct types of equipment necessary (and the manpower) to do the excavation, but he needs some serious nudging with anything that involves paperwork and red-tape - he's quite happy at some point to pay appropriate people for such services, but at this stage I'm simply looking for some quite specific info, namely what sort of finance / grants may be available via the EA, AT etc? ... somewhere in the back in back of my mind was a fairly recent scheme that involved a high level of EA assistance and involvement for anyone having available land and the desire to create a fishery.

 

Before I follow 'traditional' routes and make my own enquiries, is anyone aware of the current situation financially, i.e. the potential availability of grants etc?

Thanks!

[Vagabond]

One of my local angling clubs is applying to the AT for a grant to improve one of its existing waters.

 

Whether an individual could apply for a grant towards constructing a new water I know not, but it might be worth approaching AT to see what the ground rules are.

 

Some angling clubs have obtained funding to purchase waters via a council loan (works rather like a mortgage) I don't know the ground rules for that either, but it's another approach worth looking at.

[chesters1]

Sort the planning first ,an enterprising farmer up the road dug a lake and spent a fortune having the dirt taken away then the council stepped in an he spent a fortune bringing dirt back to fill it in again.

[philocalist]

Spoke to AT yesterday who put me in touch with their 'local' guy - apparently nothing available via them nationally, and anything local is very much via the relevant council, as far as AT are concerned. With respect to planning; I'm led to believe that his enquiries so far have essentially been met positively, subject to an agreement over what happens with some resident 'shrubs' - which the council are currently classing as 'trees', despite the fact that you can circle any given stem / trunk with your thumb and forefinger!

Not much really - just clearing maybe a dozen would give access to a 200m run of lake rather than maybe 130m, and they are all local species, taking root as a consequence of other mature trees nearby. In fairness, there is nothing at all there that could not be accidentally flattened if trod upon be a local rambler (or cow!), though he has offered to re-plant anything he chops, at a ration of 100:1!

Something that may be a bigger issue is the potential problem of mucky water draining from a nearby dual-carriageway, and polluting any new lake. The piece of road in question is on quite a steep incline past the property, but very occasionally during extreme storm conditions it washes / drains sideways onto his land, and is apparently mucky, oily surface water that would do a lake environment no good whatsoever.

I guess we might find some 'protected species' in that vicinity at some point, so the problem may be nicely diverted to some official body to sort out PDQ ... other protected beasties exist elsewhere on the property, so it is not too long a shot to discover a few more.