Ashtead Park is about to have a £50,000 makeover to continue the work that Leatherhead Angling Society is doing to turn it into a wildlife reservation that is easily accessible to nature lovers and anglers alike.

Among the plans are the creation of a safe dipping pond for children and the felling of trees that are leaning at dangerous angles over the main ponds in the park.

The Society intents to clear out some of the huge and voracious pike in the ponds that snatch at baby birds and other fish, and continue to the work on improving drainage and the surface of the paths. Improvements to the car park are also on the agenda and removing vegetation that is threatening to choke the ponds Ashtead Park, off the A24 in Ashtead Village is now managed by Surrey Wildlife Trust on behalf of Mole Valley District Council.

The ponds in the park which are fished by the Leatherhead Angling Society became overgrown until the Society drew up ambitious plans to overcome years of neglect.

"We knew we had a mountain to climb but we didn't realise just how high it was," the society's public relations officer David Janson told Ashtead Residents Association last Wednesday.

It has already put in a huge amount of work round the ponds with the help of EDF, the energy company who supplied volunteer workers to kickstart the project, and the support of local firms and club members who join regular Sunday work parties.

Now the next phase is about to start. The Environment Agency has offered a grant of £20,000 towards the cost which could reach up to £50,000 over the next few years.

"The work we have done so far has cost us quite a lot in blood, sweat and tears but we hope it has been beneficial," Mr Janson told the ARA.

"We want it to be a much nicer, safer place. The paths do need improving. In the winter they can be treacherous - quite dangerous and you can't walk round without getting covered in mud."