Due to pressing financial cutbacks, Blackburn’s proposed new tip has had to be thrown on the scrap heap.
Plans by Blackburn with Darwen Council included shutting down its two existing tips at George Street West in Blackburn and Spring Vale in Darwen. These would have been replaced by a new £5M household waste recycling plant at Chapels in Darwen. Unfortunately these plans have had to be temporarily put on ice due to the current cost of living crisis and no money being available.
But an alternative solution may be available. One of Blackburn’s Corporation Park lakes is ideal to serve as a landfill site for certain types of household rubbish. The larger of its two lakes, known as the ‘Big Can’, is reputably over 100 feet deep. It is a damned stream valley and could be drained of its water to become a landfill site.
It is also a damned problem with people walking over its ice when it occasionally freezes over in winter. Due to the depth of this body of water, anybody falling through its ice would face difficulty being rescued and could easily be drowned. So filling up the lake with refuse could kill two birds with one stone. Not only could it help with disposal of rubbish, it would also vastly reduce how deep this lake is in its present state.
Having a shallow lake also creates an option for many opportunities in various leisure pursuits. Not only rowing, sailing and other boating activities, but curling and skating could take place on those rare occasions when these two lakes freeze over. Also, having greater use of this lake would deter vandalism in the park and other anti-social behaviour, such as feeding its ducks.
Vehicle access to the larger lake wouldn’t be much of a problem. It is very close to East Park Road on one side and already has wide footpaths available all around its perimeter, making it also accessible from West Park Road and Preston New Road. Once the lake had served its function as a landfill site, it could easily be returned to its former self, only nowhere near as deep as it used to be.
What became Corporation Park was an area previously known as Pemberton Clough. Its two lakes were originally reservoirs, built around 1839 then administered by the Blackburn Water Works Company. They were known as the Big Can and Little Can because local people would visit them with cans to collect water.
Wouldn’t it be very handy if Corpy Park’s Big Can became Blackburn’s Big Bin.
