The Wallingford Reports

H R Wallingford are specialists in water. To quote their own website:

“H R Wallingford delivers smart solutions wherever water interacts with people, infrastructure and the environment. Our specialist research and consultancy services help to protect vulnerable communities, improve lives and create resilience in the built and natural environments.”

In 2021 H R Wallingford was commissioned by South Cambs District Council on behalf of Longstanton Parish Council to produce a report with the following brief:

  1. To review the hydrology and hydrogeology of the Kingfisher Pond and surrounding area prior to concerns being raised about its condition (2015) and develop a conceptual model of the area;
  2. To review the more recent hydrology and hydrogeology and determine if the Kingfisher Pond has changed since 2015 and, if there is a change then;
  3. To determine the cause of the changes in the hydrology and hydrogeology of the Kingfisher Pond.

This is quite a narrow remit, focusing heavily on the Kingfisher Pond, and SCDC has attracted some adverse comment for not making the remit more inclusive of other issues on the Northstowe site. However, consideration of the problems with the pond and their causes necessarily overflows into the wider environment, so the reports do provide valuable insight into the hydrology of the whole area.

The reports are available in pdf format only. There are three parts:

Part 1 covers basic concepts: this part of the report outlines the hydrological and hydrogeological processes of the Kingfisher Pond and how it operated up until 2015 in terms of the groundwater – surface water interactions.

Part 2 completes the description begun in part 1. It describes how the Kingfisher Pond has changed since 2015 and if the groundwater levels and other hydrogeological features have changed. The report presents climatological data, groundwater records, land-use change reports and observational evidence.

Part 3 completes the report. It explains the reasons for recent hydrogeological changes to the Kingfisher Pond and the shallow aquifer which underlies the area.