THE OWNERS of vintage tractors, cars and vans converged in their vehicles at Cannop last week to protest about the possible ‘removal’ of the ponds.

Around 40 members of the Forest Vintage Vehicle and Machinery Club met at the ponds to send a message to Forestry England that the ponds should remain.

Forestry England said dams on the 200-year-old ponds could fail and removing the reservoirs is an option.

A petition has been started on the Change.org website to oppose the removal which gathered nearly 4,000 signatures in a week.

Yorkley Angling Club – which has leased the ponds for more than 60 years – called the option “hare-brained” and has said it will have a devastating impact on the wildlife that depends on them.

Members of the vintage vehicle club decided to meet at the ponds on Wednesday last week after the issue was raised at their meeting the previous evening.

Chairman Mark Harris said: “We want to support keeping Cannop Ponds as its been here for 200 years.

‘‘We are a Forest of Dean group ande grew up with it, fishing here and everything else

“We can’t see any reason from what we’ve been told so far.”

Forestry England says something has to be done to improve the ability of the Forest to withstand extreme weather.

It also says returning the valley to its “natural” form “could create exciting opportunities to do better for our forest flora and fauna”.

The angling club says there are two distinct eco-systems, based around the ponds and the brook.

In a statement they say: “Yorkley & District Angling Club have leased the ponds for coarse fishing from Forestry England and its predecessors since 1958. The ponds contain a variety of UK native freshwater fish such as Roach, rudd, perch, tench, eels, bream, carp, pike, dace, brown trout and sticklebacks.

“During its 64 years of stewardship of Cannop Ponds as a fishery, Yorkley & District Angling Club members have carried out many thousands of volunteer hours, maintaining and improving the ponds for the benefit of its members and the general public, these include but are not exhaustive of, repairs and maintenance of footpaths, creation and maintenance of fishing pegs and fishing platforms, control of non-native invasive pond weed, water quality monitoring/correction and management of fish stocks.

“Over the years the club’s relationship with its landlord Forestry England and its predecessors has been a good one, particularly with local based Forestry Rangers and office staff.

“If Forestry England’s plans are implemented there will only be one ecosystem the brook ecosystem.

“All the fish currently in the ponds with the exception of brown trout, eels, dace and sticklebacks would not survive in the brook ecosystem and would have to be removed and relocated elsewhere.

‘‘The swans, mandarin ducks and most of the other waterbirds would not be present in a brook ecosystem, also the ponds amphibians and invertebrates such as the great crested newts, frogs, damselfly larvae etc would not survive in a brook ecosystem and would need to be relocated.

“The club strongly condemns Forestry England’s proposals and asks them to quickly reconsider, and take the responsible course of action which is to repair.”

During the summer, Forestry England will work with design engineering consultants, Arup, to see if a re-naturalising of the site would be both viable and supported.

That will be followed by a round of “engagement” with the public.

More information can be found at www.forestryengland.uk/article/the-future-cannop-ponds

The support the petition to retain the ponds, go to www.change.org and searching for “save cannop ponds”.