Plans for shipping container at Peterborough's Holywell Ponds sparks outrage from residents

Planning officers at Peterborough City Council have been inundated with objections from residents over plans for a new shipping container at Holywell Ponds in Longthorpe.

An application has been made by Friends of Holywell – which was established over 30 years ago and whose members act as the council’s voluntary stewards of the site – to install a 15ft x 8ft close to the boundary of the site to store the tools required for the site’s upkeep, outdoor chairs and its kayak.

Volunteers have described the size as a small single car garage, the minimum size it could be to meaningfully allow the continued operation of the project.

Since the application was submitted on April 5, 56 objections have appeared on the council’s planning portal.

Most have objected to the intrusion on the landscape the container would make.

One commenter said: “I object to a container being placed in this area of natural beauty. It does not fit with the natural surroundings of the fish ponds and the wildlife. It will be a blot on the landscape.”

Another added: “This container would ruin the look of Holywell ponds no one wants to see a great big shipping container in such a beautiful area.”

A third said: “I strongly object to the nature of the change the Holywell ponds have undergone. Whilst the involvement of the community in caring for the area is to be applauded, turning the historical and interesting Well into a front garden in poor taste has ruined it.

“The idea that a shipping container be placed at the entrance to the woods and parkland in the heart of a residential area is ludicrous and must not be allowed. It will clearly be further damage to the amenity of the area and to what was once a pleasant spot.”

Volunteers have said that the storage is vital as removing and returning the kayak in particular regularly would be “totally impractical.”

Gardens have stood on the site on the nature reserve for around 200 years but artifacts from digs have been unearthed dating back to the Roman, Medieval and Civil War periods, as well as the 17th – 19th centuries.

The ponds themselves are regarded as some of the best-preserved Medieval fishponds in the country.

Volunteers have been working with English Heritage to conduct surveys of the area with the view of creating a long-term heritage plan.

For this reason, they have said that they must find a site for storage that allows the whole of the site’s caves at the site to be returned to their original purpose.

John Sidaway Friends of Holywell Chairman said: “Friends raised the entire sum necessary to purchase, transport and install the container. In addition local artist Nathan Murdoch has offered to paint the container for the group, further enhancing the appeal of this beautiful site.

"Hundreds of people actively and enthusiastically support the project, and regularly report how well it makes them feel, to work in the open air, in good company for a great cause. Every Wednesday is Garden Day, open to all. Many events are staged throughout the year.

"Sadly, in recent days some vandalism has occurred. Opponents of the container are using permanent markers to damage whiteboards the group provide for children visiting the site. We deplore these actions.”

One sycamore tree would have to be removed to make way for the container.

The application must now be considered by officers.

Comments can be made and plans viewed on the city’s council’s planning portal, search using reference 23/00237/R4FUL.