Alton Town Council wants views on two futures for King's Pond: dredge it, or run the River Wey through a smaller pond. Survey 2 November to 4 January.
Updated 7 November: the costs are now published. Dredging Plus is estimated at £859,716 and River and Pond at £2,236,221, plus £164,759 for either. Full breakdown.
Alton residents will be asked to choose between two very different futures for King’s Pond. One keeps the pond as it is and dredges out the silt. The other lets the River Wey run through the site, with a smaller pond and new wetland alongside it.
Alton Town Council, which owns the pond, opens a nine-week consultation on Monday 2 November. It closes on Monday 4 January 2027. The council announced it on 23 October and says no decision has been made.
Leaflets started arriving by Royal Mail on 19 October. Copies are also at the Town Hall.
The two options
The council describes them like this on its King’s Pond project page.
Dredging Plus keeps the pond broadly in its current form. It would include:
- dredging to remove the silt
- improvements to the weir
- restoring the eroded banks and islands
- silt traps to slow future build-up
- some wetland and marginal planting
River and Pond runs the Wey through the site. It would include:
- a river channel through the site, with a smaller pond kept alongside
- wetland areas
- banks and the island reinstated, reprofiled and strengthened
- a modified weir
- new paths and walkways through pond, river, wetland and woodland habitats
Five Rivers Environmental Contracting, appointed by the council in May 2026, has drawn up preliminary designs and costings for both. The costs went up on the council’s consultation page when it opened on 2 November: £859,716 for Dredging Plus and £2,236,221 for River and Pond.
Why anything has to change
The council’s own briefing paper sets out the problem plainly. The Wey carries material down from upstream and drops it in the pond. “If we do nothing the pond will eventually be filled with silt,” it says.
The pond is the product of dams on the Wey going back to the late 1700s. The current dam was built by Alton Urban District Council when it bought the site in the early 1970s. It has been dredged twice since, in the early 1970s and in 1996.
The briefing paper also records:
- about 10,000 cubic metres of silt would have to come out to get back to the 1996 depth
- the silt carries road run-off chemicals and high levels of lead and zinc, so it cannot go on farmland, allotments or gardens
- blockages at the weir screen make water levels swing, and high water has eroded the banks and islands
- fish cannot get past the weir in either direction
- water held in the pond warms up and picks up nutrients from the wildfowl, which harms the chalk stream downstream
- 2025 surveys found the pond’s health is poor, with few invertebrates in samples
The paper is fair to both sides. Dredging means the least change to the wildfowl and keeps the pond the same size, but the silt would build up again. The river option should cut future dredging sharply and help the Wey, but the pond would be “significantly smaller” and waterfowl numbers may fall. Even then, fish still could not pass a drop in the river just beyond the council’s land.
Where to find out more in November
The council is holding six public briefings, with a presentation and questions, and three drop-in sessions with the consultants and members of the King’s Pond task and finish group. The dates and venues are from the consultation leaflet.
| Date | Time | Type | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wed 4 Nov | 7.30pm to 9.30pm | Briefing | Alton Maltings, Maltings Close |
| Sat 7 Nov | 10am to noon | Drop-in | Alton Assembly Rooms, High Street |
| Mon 9 Nov | 10am to 11.30am | Briefing | Alton Social Bowling Club, Chawton Park Road |
| Wed 11 Nov | 12.30pm to 2.30pm | Briefing | Alton Rugby Club, Anstey Park |
| Thu 12 Nov | 7.30pm to 9.30pm | Drop-in | Town Hall, Market Square |
| Sun 15 Nov | 2pm to 4pm | Briefing | Alton Masonic Centre, Market Street |
| Tue 17 Nov | 10am to noon | Drop-in | Alton Place, Winchester Road |
| Thu 19 Nov | 5pm to 7pm | Briefing | Alton Community Centre, Amery Street |
| Sat 21 Nov | 10am to noon | Briefing | Alton Assembly Rooms, High Street |
The council’s announcement lists the Community Centre briefing as Wednesday 19 November. The leaflet says Thursday, and 19 November is a Thursday.
A display with drawings of both options will be at the Town Hall throughout the consultation, Monday to Friday, 9am to 4.30pm.
Councillor Chris Botten, deputy town mayor and a member of the task and finish group, said: “King’s Pond is an important and much-loved part of Alton, and we recognise how much its future matters to our community.”
What it means for you
- Anyone can respond. The survey is run by an independent firm, Enventure Research. It is online and on paper.
- 1,000 households will get a questionnaire in the post. Enventure says they were picked at random to give a broad cross-section. If one arrives, it can be returned on paper or completed online.
- If you do not get one, you can still answer through the open survey from 2 November.
- Go to a session before you answer. The costs and drawings are now on the consultation page.
- Nothing happens on site soon. The council says works are “unlikely to commence before late 2027”. Final designs, permits and fundraising come first.
Enventure’s report goes to a full council meeting in late January, and will be published on the council’s website. Questions go to the council on 01420 83986 or support@alton.gov.uk.
For other Alton news, see M&S Alton Simply Food to close in January and the Alton Christmas lights switch-on.
Sources
- Alton Town Council, Have your say on the future of King’s Pond, 23 October 2026
- Alton Town Council, consultation leaflet (PDF)
- Alton Town Council, King’s Pond project page, project update October 2026
- Alton Town Council, King’s Pond: the next steps in deciding the way forward, briefing paper re-issued 9 February 2026 (PDF)
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