Chasewater pier – erected as a monitor tower for speedboat events – has been publicly inaccessible and steadily rotting away for a couple of decades.
Readers who are Chasewater fans will remember that back in February, I wrote a post that set out to explain the planning application that had been submitted to construct a wakeboarding facility in the south east corner of the lake, from around the old pier to just past the valve house on the dam.
At the time of posting, I was expecting the application to generate huge opposition and be somewhat controversial: in the end, this seemed not to be the case.
Last week, the scheme was approved by planners, and all things being well, this will result in Chasewater gaining a new, state of the art watersports facility and public attraction, which should secure visitors for some years to come.
The plan also includes the reclamation and refurbishment of the old pier, which will be used as a dock. This can’t be a bad thing at all.
Video supplied with planning application of wakeboard equipment in use.
Details of the approval were posted on Lichfield Live! last week, and I thought it prudent to draw them to readers attention.
On the whole, I support this plan and think it will be good for the the park, pull punters in and help cement the future of the park after what has been a tough couple of years. The small environmental cost will be offset I feel, and the wildlife is already unsettled by, or cohabiting alongside speedboats, waterskiers and other such disturbances.
The location plan of the scheme appears to indicate the pier brought back into use. From documents submitted with the planning application.
The application bears the number 13/00145/FUL, and can be accessed online from Lichfield District Council’s planning service.
The application is described as ‘Installation and operation of a straight line cable tow wakeboarding facility and associated works’ and is being made by Wakelake Limited, of Burton on Trent.