MYSTERIES lurking in the waters of a legendary "bottomless" pond in Cleethorpes could soon surface as developers reveal ambitions to build houses there.
Local firm Carr and Carr Builders, which owns the 100-year-old Chapman's Pond, between Pelham Road and Suggitts Lane, has revealed it is in early discussions with BGL Logistics about transforming the land into a residential development.
Although bosses claim plans are "changing every day" a potential development could include filling in a large portion of the pond and demolishing the industrial estate, which is owned by BGL.
David Carr said: "The land here is begging to be developed and the council has been looking for us to do something with it for a long time but in the current climate, developing brownfield sites is expensive."
If Carr and Carr's plans come off, it would be the final chapter for the mysterious pool of water, which is thought by some to be bottomless and haunted.
It has already been marked as potential for development in North East Lincolnshire Council's Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment for 2012 and has the capacity for 200 homes – although it would have "significant and abnormal" costs.
With the recent application made by Ross Davy Associates and landowner David Atkin, for 23 homes on the neighbouring brownfield land, Carr and Carr believes "a precedent has been set" for future development in the area.
News of filling in the pond will be considered controversial among conservationists and historians, who have always been fascinated by the mysterious pool of water.
Some believe it is haunted by the ghost of a young girl who fell in and drowned.
Others believe a runaway horse and cart fell into the "bottomless pit" and there have also been sightings of a figure plunging into it from the neighbouring Water Tower.
Before strict health and safety laws, children would play by the pond to catch sticklebacks and scare each other with ghost stories.
Local conservationist Ernie Brown was among them and in the 1980s fronted a campaign against a group of companies, which planned to tip waste into it. There were also plans to turn it into a marina for watersports.
Mr Brown, who would once again oppose any plans, said: "I don't see how this can be done. I suppose they could find a way of filling the pond but this would have to be at high costs. And who would want to buy a house built on a pond?
"That pond is part of many people's childhoods. I used to go there as a boy and I would never want to see the pond go."
The pond was eventually fenced off to the public and has remained that way ever since.
