CONCERNS have been raised that a child could die after youngsters were seen skating on a drainage pond that has frozen over.

The eight-foot deep hole near Moresby play park was created without planning permission by parish councillors Kyle and Ian Thornley.

The pond, which had filled with water and began spilling onto the nearby Moresby Rugby Union pitch, is now a sheet of ice.

Worried residents fear that children in the village could suffer a similar fate to the three boys who tragically died after falling through ice into a lake in Solihull this week.

Moresby Parish Council agreed to have the pond filled back in at a meeting held in September but the works are yet to begin.

Two parish councillors – Janice Ogilvie  and Brian Parke – have now resigned following a number of heated council meetings which have discussed the issue.

At an extraordinary meeting of the parish council on Monday, which chairman Nick Troughton and parish clerk Chris Shaw did not attend, councillors expressed urgency in getting the works done.

Councillor Norma Boyes said: “We have got to get something done. We need to get it sorted. We can’t carry on like this. Those kids that died in that lake – it could have been us.”

A member of the public said: “Somebody needs to do something fast because children have been seen skating on that pond and you know what’s happened to the three kids.”

Another worried resident said: “Enough is enough. There’s been a bad accident in the Midlands with those kids in that pond. There’s another one just waiting to happen.

“These kids are the same age as the ones who play on that play park.”

Lee Richardson, of Moresby RUFC, outlined a schedule of work that needed to be completed before January 31, to avoid any further legal action from the club against the parish council.

He said: “From a rugby club stance, we want all land, pipework and attenuation moved and restored back to what it was.

“It’s disturbed land. It’s never going to be put back to what it was so we’re still going to have a danger of it seeping on to the pitch. We want a secondary drain. That’s what we think is the right thing to do.”

A motion was passed that the works should be completed according to a schedule to submitted by the rugby club and should be completed with ‘immediate effect’.

If Kyle and Ian Thornley are not prepared to comply with this, then it was agreed that the parish council would seek to appoint a contractor to do this as per the specification.

It was agreed that the contactor appointed would need to be authorised and paid for by the parish council

The parish council agreed to protect public funds and seek recompense from the Thornleys for the creation of the pond and the engineering works.

It was also agreed that an independent clerk should oversee the work to ensure compliance.