A GROUP in Cirencester has banded together to make sure a much-loved water feature in the town does not dry up forever.

Reverend Dr Nicholas Henderson, from Cirencester, has been raising his concerns that Gumstool Brook, and the associated Barton millpond, was drying up in the summer.

He said he had spent many a summer holiday playing and catching trout in the brook by Gloucester Street and would be disappointed if it disappeared.

Gumstool Brook dried up after low rainfall in 2013 and last summer and residents fear it was due to the abstraction of water from the groundwater source operated by Thames Water in Baunton, a village near Cirencester.

After emails and discussions with various authorities, Dr Henderson arranged a meeting with the Environment Agency, Thames Water and Cirencester Town Council to discuss how best to sort out the issue.

Now, following the meeting, a team led by Dr Henderson will be taking measures to aid the brook, including digging out gravel and vegetation which has built up and investigating the state of the sluices and gates.

Dr Henderson said: “Notwithstanding the vagaries of changing weather and rainfall patterns and the need to prioritise limited water along the main river course of the River Churn during summer low flows, it is hoped that the proposed measures will result in environmental and amenity improvements to the waterways and as a consequence a much-loved water feature of Cirencester will be safeguarded.”

The Barton millpond is fed from the River Churn via sluice gates at the northern end of Gloucester Street. Gumstool Brook is fed from the Daglingworth stream and also receives water from the millpond. They then flow into the river system that passes underground through Cirencester then along the south of the Abbey Grounds to City Bank before eventually reconnecting with the main River Churn near the Mitsubishi site.