During the past week I have been in Bradford looking after our grandchildren. During this visit I was taking the children to school in the morning and collecting them at the end of the school day. I took the opportunity to explore a little more of Bradford during the day and found this Country Park half an hours walk up the road from where Louise and family live.
The Country Park started its life as a quarry and a great number of properties in the surrounding area were built using stone from this quarry. After use of the quarry finished, it was filled with water and became a reservoir, with an earth bank increasing it's depth.
In the mid 1980's, Yorkshire Water, who owned the reservoir, revealed in a secret safety report that hundreds of people were under threat of a deadly flood, after an inspection of the 110 year old earth dam showed major problems. This included finding that the culvert that would take the water away in an emergency was blocked with tons of silt. A landslide or earth movement would endanger the villages below!!
Bradford West MP Max Madden demanded that the report must be made publicand it was brought it up at Question time in Parliament. Michael Howard Environment Minister said. “It was up to Yorkshire water to decide what to do with the future or the reservoir"and "That it would probably be drained repaired and refilled.”
However in 1989 the reservoir was closed when it became infected with bacteral algae and had to be drained.
The local people were not impressed and had heard rumours that the land would be sold of by Yorkshire Water for housing development. The nearby golf club also wanted to extend and incorporate it into the course.
After much discussion the resevoir became a lake and country park in 2010.
Thank you for your comments and fav. The park is a lovely spot of countryside in a built up area. definately a hidden gem. Katharine
Thank you Kathy, Katharine appreciates your comment!
Ian