Oil dumped in Corby lake for the second time in less than two months

The council is currently arranging for this to be cleared.

North Northants Council (NNC) issued a warning to residents, including pet owners, after Oakley Vale lake was found to be contaminated with oil at the end of March and now it has happened again.

Oakley Vale Community Association chairman, Paul Balmer, said: “There’s people down there working on it at the moment from Aquaserve UK. The Environment Agency are involved as well.

“I had a long conversation with the Environment Agency yesterday and they’re investigating another oil spill in the last few days. It is awful, just terrible.”

Towards the end of April (April 19), a number of dead fish were spotted in the lake.

During this time, the council did not believe that this was connected to the pollution incident.

However in early May, tests suggested that the oil may have been a contributing factor in the deaths of the fish.

Now that there has been another oil dumping incident there is likely to be more contamination in the lake.

As well as oil being dumped in the lake, some residents are concerned that the fountain in the lake has not been on for around a year and believe this could have contributed to the fish deaths.

Oakley Vale resident and Corby borough councillor, Judy Caine, said: “I approached the council in July last year to say ‘the fountain’s off, what’s going on’ and I got the local councillors involved and it just took a long time to even get anyone down to look at it.“I don’t know where it’s made, it’s not British made. The new part, the whole new structure I understand, is now going to be coming from somewhere in Europe and as soon as it does, the fountain will be back up and running, which will be nice because it looks nice as well as it’s practical use.”

Speaking with the Northants Telegraph earlier this month Paul Balmer said: “We’re concerned that the lake has not been properly aerated.

“The fountain that was put in there to aerate the water so that the fish will be healthy, has been off for a year, so we’ve been campaigning for a year to get it back, repaired, and working. Hopefully that’s going to happen fairly soon.”

Council leader Cllr Jason Smithers said: “The independent testing we had conducted found that fountain and absence of oxygen were not contributing factors to the recent fish deaths.

“As part of our wider work on the lake, we are currently arranging for the fountain to be repaired alongside the clear up of another recent oil spill.”

There have also been concerns over algae spreading over the top of the lake.

Oakley Ward councillor Simon Reilly (Lab) said: “The lakes on Oakley Vale along with the sculptures are described by many as the ‘jewel in Oakley Vale’s crown’ but unfortunately we have seen regular outbreaks of blue-green algae and a vast amount of fish dying in the lakes.

“The outbreak of toxic blue-green algae affects oxygen levels in the lakes and as the weather gets warmer, this is only going to get worse and leave fish gasping for oxygen.

“I understand new parts are on order to get the water fountain operational again, but to be honest this has taken far too long, so I can understand why the residents feel let down.”

Oakley Vale Community Association will discuss the lake at tonight’s meeting at Oakley Vale Community Centre from 7.30pm.