AS much as £250,000 could be spent on cleaning out a pond in Malvern. 

Councillors will discuss plans to invest a quarter of a million pounds de-silting and repairing the pond in Priory Park at an Executive Committee meeting next week.

According to reports which will be discussed by district councillors, the full work to de-silt, repair and enhance the lower pond in Priory Park will improve water quality and bio-diversity.

Malvern Hills District Council's executive committee will discuss the proposals on January 18.

45 per cent of this cost of the work will be met through the Natural Networks grant fund.

This allows organisations to bid for between £2,000 and £200,000 from Worcestershire County Council and Worcestershire Wildlife Fund to go towards environmental projects.

Agenda documents for next week's meetings say: "Following the de-silting and repair of the upper pond in Priory Park which has reinstated water flow into the lower pond further, more significant, works are required to the lower pond to improve water quality and biodiversity.

"A recent report into the health of the lower pond highlighted poor water quality caused by large deposits of decaying leaf matter.

"The pond has low value for aquatic plants and limited numbers/species of aquatic invertebrates."

In addition to desilting, the project also encompasses: specialist fish removal, installation of baskets to create planting shelves, tree works to reduce leaf litter accumulation, installation of a kingfisher perch and log piles.

Also included on the western bank of the pond, non-native shrubs will be thinned out or removed and re-planted with native shrubs and woodland bulbs.

If approved, the work should take place in early 2022, to avoid key amphibian and bird breeding seasons and to ensure the least environmental impact to the wider park.

Once the 45 per cent funding is taken care of, the council is asked to delegate the portioning of the remaining amount to its deputy chief executive between the priorities reserve and section 106 contributions from developers.