Bradford Council roads contractors pump trout pond full of concrete due to 'unforeseen incident' while working in Yorkshire village

The Addingham Environment Group complained after spotting damage to Back Beck, which feeds into the River Wharfe, on Monday. They added that wildlife in the pool, where trout breed, had been ‘destroyed’ when concrete was pumped into it by the highways workers.

The group said: “Sadly and outrageously, a Bradford Council contractor has been pumping concrete into the trout pool on Back Beck just downstream of Bridge 55 in a very much misguided attempt to shore up Back Beck Lane at that point. The pool and its inhabitants have largely been destroyed. The pumping has now been stopped. Our parish clerk is taking up the issue with Bradford. This is one of the very few places in the village that our brown trout make redds.

"A number of us have now spent sometime this morning trying to sort things out. Everyone accepts that a serious mistake has been made and Bradford Council and the contractor have agreed to re-design the scheme that makes the road structurally safe on the one hand and minimises damage to wildlife especially brown trout habitat on the other. So work will continue with new concrete added but held behind a retaining curtain and the concrete that now fills the pool dug out to restore the pool to its original shape and depth. Once complete it will take some time to re-naturalise and we may not see trout back there for a long time, but it is probably the best that can now be achieved. Overall this has been a failure of communication and a failure to carry out an environmental impact assessment on behalf of Bradford Highways department.”

Bradford Council said: “We are aware of this issue which arose on Monday (3 July). The incident was unforeseen, as the water flow had been contained before the concrete was pumped to shore up the bank.

“An Environment Agency officer visited the site yesterday (4 July) to test the water and found that the pH levels were still safe and did not pose a risk to wildlife in the pond. We have also agreed the next steps to complete the works with both the Environment Agency and Addingham Environment Group.

“This will involve reducing the quantity of concrete being used to a line on a plan which was shown to Addingham Parish Council. A concrete scour protection will be installed as planned and excess concrete on the banking side will be removed to allow the area to re-naturalise.

“To mitigate any concerns, the Environment Agency has been invited to the next concrete pour and will also be there when the excess concrete is removed to test the water samples.”