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Draining Telford’s Southwater Lake – in pictures
Wednesday 15th December 2010, 10:28AM GMT.
Draining the boating lake to make way for the Telford Southwater redevelopment
The landmark Southwater Lake in Telford town centre is fast disappearing after contractors moved in to drain it ahead of huge redevelopment work to give the town a vibrant centre.
A new lake of the same size will eventually take its place, however, as part of the £250 million Southwater project aimed at creating a vibrant, living heart in the centre of Telford.
Fish from Southwater Lake have already been relocated before workmen moved in to drain the water and ecologists say ducks, moorhens and other birds on the site will also move on now the operation is under way.
Southwater Lake is being drained ready to be filled in and turned into a development plot to create new civic offices for Telford & Wrekin Council.
The council will move having sold its existing Malinslee House headquarters nearby to supermarket Asda, which will move onto that site from its existing location in Telford Shopping Centre.
The drainage and in-filling of the lake marks the first phase of the ambitious Southwater redevelopment which will include office space, a new library, two new hotels, bars, restaurants, cafés and shops, and a leisure hub with a space for a leisure pool and multi-screen cinema.
There will also be hundreds of homes, including apartments and town houses.
Councillor Andrew Eade, leader of Telford & Wrekin Council, said the work was focused on getting the site ready for major investment.
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does this article say a new lake will take its place…..what a waste of MONEY AND TIME why fix something that isnt broke…. and moving everything 500 yards down the road…
very shocking i say the council have not got a clue….they decide to do this whilst there are budget cuts…..it makes me so angry….
They waste money on this but will not put a speed camara back at Bennetts Bank to improve and keep safer roads…as andrew Eade said he is not wasting money on it…..(yes not wasting money on it)
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You say its a waste of money but I am quite happy for the council to spend money to help regenerate the town centre. It will be things like the physical environment of the town that attract private sector investment not whether there is a functioning speed camera on Bennets Bank (which would only get vandalised yet again)although I do agree that they should have replaced it.
I say kudos to Eade for continuing the regeneration agenda after the tories took control of the council from Labour.
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Stephen, what on EARTH has this got to do with a speed camera at Bennetts Bank? That speed camera should never have been put there in the first place. They fudged the figures to ‘prove’ it should have been put there.
When I asked someone who had come to change the film in the camera why he had chosen to illegally park his ENTIRE van on the pavement, he chose to ignore me. So, clearly, it was never about road safety, was it?
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errrrrrm well MATT!!!!!!no funding was put forward for speed camara… that saves life in my opinion unless that has changed…but they put funding for new lake, new council offices, new asda, new shopping centre….i think we already have them……..WHY FIX SOMETHING THAT IS NO BROKEN….
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They have sold off their old offices to ASDA, which will in turn pay for the new one at southwater, as for the rest of the developement the money has/is coming from private investment, the only building that will belong to the council is thier new offices and as stated will be paid for via a sale. Simples.
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“They have sold off their old offices to ASDA, which will in turn pay for the new one at southwater, as for the rest of the developement the money has/is coming from private investment, the only building that will belong to the council is thier new offices and as stated will be paid for via a sale. Simples.”
There are still gullible people out there then and no doubt, Santa Claus will pay the wages for the next 12 months…simples!
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So let’s just be clear about this, Telford council are moving a lake?
Is it April 1st or something?
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If Telford and Wrekin are going to regenerate the town centre, then could we possible have something that it nice to the eye rather then the clone town that we are going to get.
This is the perfect chance to give telford a heart, but all it will become is an aggressive, testosterone filled night spot, a bit like Gun Wharf keys in Portsmouth. Great place to go to in the day but a awful place to visit at night, unless you want a fight or see Drunks staggering all over the place.
Lets guess what pubs and resturants. Wetherspoons, Nando’s, lloyds bar and the rest that are in any other leisure development being built in the country.
All the investment is just to bury the fact that our council is spending millions on something that the current council offices do perfectly well. Give them a facelift on the outside and save lots of money.
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The present council offices were actually designed to be a multi-storey car park.
They tend to be very hot, must waste energy like there is no tomorrow, and are well past their sell by date, hence the sale.
New, smaller, more energy efficient offices have got to be a better bargain
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Where on earth are they storing the lake while they move it? Perhaps it could be placed by Bennetts Bank where the sight of its serene waters would calm speeding drivers?
There, you see, no need for CAPITAL LETTERS and exclamation marks after all!
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I agree that its a tragic waste of money, all because the council want to move a few yards down the road. Other councils are implementing pay freezes and lots of other things to SAVE money. The council are selfish, the money could be better spent on the needy residents of Telford.
The shops in the town centre can’t survive and stay open, why should a new development be any different?
Draining the lake in this weather must have had a terrible impact on the wildfowl, they were used to being fed by the public.
Even if the sale of the land funds the new council offices, where is the other money coming from to kit it out?
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It appears that some of the seagulls that used to be resident on or near the lake have moved to Brookside. There have been a handful of them here for the last week at least.
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Thanks for sharing.
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This council has loads of money to spend moving lakes ,building new offices etc but my 80 year old father cant get out of his house because of the state of the footpaths and that’s with out the snow.
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I’m sorry for your 80yr old father but if you want something doing take a leaf out of my book and take up the issue with the local media i.e the Shropshire Star and Midland’s Today. That’s the only way the coucil will listen these day’s, And i’ve found it really does work. I hope it’s some help wit your problem.
Ruth
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[They tend to be very hot, must waste energy like there is no tomorrow,]
Sounds like the Guildhall in Shrewsbury and that was only been built a few years ago!
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I know people will and have started saying that Telford council have wasted money on something that didn’t need fixing but as much as I love taking my daughter to the town park and seeing the duck’s in the lake but if the council is going to totally revamp the town centre and surrounding area you might as well do the whole place instead of bit’s of it, So when I toke my little girl to Wonderland to see santa before christmas I was qite surprised to see that park was under contruction. Of all the year’s i’ve been going it’s nice to see something productive done with it and the council finally doing something with the place that I hope will benefit the local public and visiter’s that come to telford every year and that we will finally have a town centre to be proud of.
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