CONTROVERSIAL £17m plans to build huge new dams and flood defences on Hampstead Heath were lodged at the Town Hall this week.

Heath guardians the City of London handed over the fine-print details of how and why it plans to raise the banks of ponds, create new overflow spillways and form a pit on the northern slopes to catch rainwater. 

It claims the work is vital as the threat of severe storms and flash floods increases. Homes in Gospel Oak, Dartmouth Park and South End Green face the threat of flooding if the pond banks collapse. 

The City says new legislation forces it to act, but critics warn that the scheme would radically alter the look of the Heath.

The plans, which run to more than 1,000 pages, show the extent of the work that will be done at the Hampstead and Highgate chain of ponds. They include a construction management plan. 

Designs for new changing rooms and toilets at the ladies pond are included. Drawings show how the model boating pond would have its southern bank raised by two-and-a-half metres, with earth scooped from its western bank to provide spoil and to make the pond surface area larger. A new island would preserve oak, plane and lime trees currently growing to the side of the pond. 

A City spokesman said it had to push on with the project despite objections, which include a Heath and Hampstead Society call for a judicial review. If it did not start the project, the Environment Agency could step in and do the work itself, the City warns.

It said: “We are following advice from our government-appointed panel engineer to make sure the current earth dams can withstand an extreme rainstorm without collapsing.”

Heath and Hampstead Society chairman Marc Hutchinson told the New Journal: “The main ground for our objections is that the work proposed is unlawful and in breach of the 1871 Act.

“We are extremely concerned about the environmental damage caused by the proposed work, the effect of having large, earth-moving trucks on the Heath and the scale of the disruption.

“We are also concerned that the pictures provided by the City underemphasise the size of the dams and the works.”

He added that he did not expect the planning application to be considered until the High Court had ruled on the scheme, which could be in October.

Copies of the application can be found on the council website and at Queen’s Crescent and Highgate branch libraries.

Minister visits Heath ponds

IT was almost his last move as a government minister – so it was lucky Tory MP Owen Paterson made no rash promises that he’d somehow put the brakes on the City of London’s controversial dam scheme on Hampstead Heath, writes Dan Carrier.

Mr Paterson was sacked from his post as Minister for the Environment this week, days after being shown the Highgate boating pond by Simon Marcus, his party’s candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn at the general election. 

The ponds could have their banks raised under the City of London scheme as part of a radical new approach to flood defences. Mr Paterson admitted he knew nothing about the £17m scheme and the threat campaigners say it represents to the Heath. 

But he added that he had become something of an expert on flooding, having borne the brunt of criticism after much of Somerset was left under water during the winter. 

He said: “It is not for me to cast judgment but I am aware of local flooding issues. But we have to use the agreed designs to stop them.”

Mr Marcus vowed that, if elected, he would use his power to stop the scheme. 

He said: “It could be my first private member’s Bill.”