Yorkley and District Angling Club have leased the fishing rights at Cannop Ponds for many years and the club’s current 3-year lease expires on the 31st December 2022.

Because of the significant engineering works required at Cannop Ponds over the next few years, we recently wrote to the club to advise them that we could not renew the lease.

This week we met with representatives of the club to discuss the matter further and have agreed to extend their current lease of fishing rights to the 30th April 2023, to coincide with the end of the club’s fishing season.

We have further agreed to provide a new lease of fishing rights for Speech House Lake / Three Islands. We have also given an ‘in principle agreement’ that should there be fishable water at Cannop Ponds in the future, we will consider letting the associated fishing rights to the club.

Forestry England let fishing rights to other angling clubs in the Forest of Dean. These leases are not impacted by the engineering concerns that have arisen at Cannop.

We are in the early stages of determining the range of feasible options at Cannop, however whichever option is chosen to solve the issues at Cannop Ponds, there will be extensive works. Water levels will need to be lowered considerably to ensure the pressure on the dams is reduced and the work areas around the dams and spillway protected. It will not be possible to retain the current fish stocks in the ponds at such low water levels. This would clearly be disruptive and impact the club and its fishing, so the decision to not renew the lease is the best decision at this time.

We recognise that any developing plans will need to address the welfare of both the current fish stock, and the wildlife that currently live in, or feed from the ponds.

Survey work, and professional stakeholder consultations will be on-going through the autumn to inform and shape the available options, and we would like to emphasise again that no decision has been taken on the future of Cannop Ponds.

We are regularly updating our website with new information, to read more and find answers to frequently asked questions visit https://www.forestryengland.uk/…/the-future-cannop…