The soaring popularity of angling as a sport has led a mid-Essex man to plan another fishing lake on his land.

Gerard Bibbey, of Little Braxted, near Witham, has applied for planning permission to create another lake for coarse fishing with car parking, on land he owns near the River Blackwater in the village.

Mr Bibbey, who already runs two fishing lakes nearby, said the extra lake would take the maximum number of anglers using his lakes from about 70 to 100 a day.

The lake would be mostly stocked with carp and run like his other lakes, where members of the public pay for permits to fish there.

Mr Bibbey said: "We get a lot of people wanting to fish. Everybody says the public are going in for relaxing sports, and fishing might be the next most popular sport after football."

Published Thursday October 17, 2002

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