Hampstead Heath is a squelching mass

• EVERY autumn and winter, since the completion of the reinforced Hampstead Heath dams, the area has steadily become nothing short of a quagmire, specifically the land around the ponds.

I had hoped that, in time, the management team would attend to the growing waterlogging problem but, sadly, this has not happened.

Nor has the expertise that was consulted as to the sustainability of the previous dams’ structure, before being duly engaged in the construction of the present ones, found themselves dragged back to drain the squelching muck and lake-sized puddles that we have been left to wade and waddle through.

Who would have thought that the expertise that advised on the future likelihood of flooding if the dams were not reinforced, would be less able to foretell that the act of dumping dredged clay upon the surrounding hills (while shifting those sub-soils and top-soils), would then cause its own flooding problems where land meets path?

The footpaths around the ponds are a disgrace of mud and water flowing down off of the reconstructed slopes. The hills themselves are a squelching mass.

Anyone can see that drainage ditches should have been put in place along with the dam works and clearly need to be so now. After all to deserve the title of Heath management team management needs to be undertaken.

Sadly, short of some questionable coppicing, this management is sorely lacking.

The City of London Corporation needs to bring the dam consultancy and construction team back to make amends and to spend some of the cash it is reaping from its recently enforced pond swimming payment enterprise into making the Heath a safer place walk.

Or could it be that by proposing to further increase the charges to swim by up to 21 per cent and implement charges for the use of the public toilets, the corporation are hoping to dissuade people from visiting the Heath at all.

DOUGLAS MOFFAT
Lulot Gardens, N19