Maldon Marine Lake

Maldon Marine Lake
Location	Essex
Coordinates	51°43′38″N 0°41′23″E / 51.72722°N 0.68972°E / 51.72722; 0.68972Coordinates: 51°43′38″N 0°41′23″E / 51.72722°N 0.68972°E / 51.72722; 0.68972
Lake type	artificial lake
Basin countries	United Kingdom

Maldon Marine Lake is a lake in Maldon, a small historic town on the estuary of the River Blackwater in Essex, England has been renowned for its promenade park with its salt water lake. The lake was created in 1905 and greatly added to the attraction of the area, making it a popular tourist venue. The attraction being that one could swim, no matter what the state the tide in the adjacent estuary.

Sadly in 2002 a young father lost his life swimming in the lake when he seems to have collided with a submerged and unseen post that was the base for a warning sign. Ultimately the Maldon District Council http://www.maldon.gov.uk/home was prosecuted by The Health and Safety Executive http://www.hse.gov.uk/ and found guilty.

Meanwhile the lake was closed to swimmers on safety grounds. The Council's plans to reopen the lake for swimming foundered because they could not afford to satisfy the HSE's condition that 26 life guards should supervise swimming at any one time and the lake should be enclosed by a barrier of at least 2 metres, which some had said would give it aesthetic similarities to that of a prison. It was pointed out that there are many other swimming places in the UK where swimming is permitted without formal supervision. Local people seemed not to understand why there need to be different standards applied in Maldon.

As the plans to reopen the marine lake to swimmers were blocked, Maldon Town Council submitted new plans which involved the creation of an "ornamental lake." This proved incredibly unpopular with local residents and a "Save Maldon Marine Lake" campaign was initiated. However, the council were unwilling to take any further risks with regards to health & safety and therefore decided the lake would benefit the area in the long term. The new proposals will prohibit people from bathing in the lake. In addition a water-play area and a "Galleon play area" were proposed for the site and are now built. The loss of the swimming facility seems to be an issue which will not go away and already, several swimming protests have been staged. There are real fears that children and weak swimmers will use the river instead, a far more dangerous place to swim.