Abusive 'Blue Lagoon' visitors are making our lives a misery, say villagers

Families living near notorious Derbyshire pool have had enough

Villagers living in the shadow of Buxton's notorious "Blue Lagoon" say their lives are being made a misery by the frequent influxes of youths who flock to the shores of the lime quarry-pond whenever the sun shines.

Residents of Harpur Hill, on the outskirts of Buxton, have seen the number of people parking up in the village increasing drastically since pictures of the toxic blue pool have started being spread across social media.

And, on bank holiday Monday, the influx reached a crescendo as the village was swarming with an estimated 2,000 people who had travelled in from miles around to soak up the sunshine, enjoy picnics and barbecues and listen to loud music.

But careless parking and gridlocked streets are not the only problems the crowds are bringing to the village, according to residents, who say they are receiving abuse from some of the visitors, and even watching them urinating in their gardens.

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Linda Grooby, a county and borough councillor for the area and chairman of the Harpur Hill Residents Association, says the community is now fed up of the situation.

She told Derbyshire Live: "It was the worst it has ever been at the weekend, it's never been that bad. There were well over 2,000 people there on Monday. The majority of them are not nice people, that's the problem.

"We get groups of youths coming from the cities; Stockport, Manchester, they come from miles around when we've asked them.

"And to be truthful with you they're abusive. If the residents ask them not to park across their drive or not to pee in their gardens, they're totally abusive.

"As I walked up Harpur Hill Road on Monday I could hear them effing and blinding and shouting. It was awful. And I walked up there alone, so I felt threatened.

"They're not all like that, I should say that, but a good number of them are.

"Something will have to be done, we can't tolerate this."

The pool at what is officially known as Hoffman Quarry has filled naturally from rainwater and has been present for many years, a legacy of what was once a productive lime kiln that stood on the site, burning off quicklime.

The minerals that are discarded on the site from the decades of industrial burning have mixed with the freezing-cold water in the pool to give it its vivid blue colour - but its apparent "beauty" belies a toxic mix of chemicals which have the same PH value as bleach and can cause anything from mild skin irritations to severe sickness.

But that message, which is explicitly spelled out on signs that ask visitors "would you swim in ammonia or bleach?", is frequently ignored and people are often seen bathing and paddling in the water.

Swimmers are also warned of the dangers of dumped cars, animal carcasses and excrement beneath the pond, but these signs are also ignored and appear to do nothing to stop people swimming above and below the surface.

The so-called Blue Lagoon is listed on Tripadvisor under "Things to do in Buxton" and selfies with the blue water as a backdrop have been widely shared across the social network Instagram - and this is what locals feel is fuelling the problem.

Resident David Seppman has lived in Harpur Hill since 1989 and has watched the situation worsen over the years.

He said: "It's being treated like a tourist attraction. But unlike a tourist attraction there's no toilets, there's no facilities, they're going to the local shop en masse, they're urinating where they wish and everything else.

"And this may sound terrible but there's been tampons found on the road and in people's drives. There's rubbish everywhere.

"And if people try to challenge them they're just being really abusive or getting laughed at.

"I was once told to f*** off or else I'd get my windows smashed by a group of four young men.

"So it is having a big impact on the village.

"We're not a tourist spot, we're not advertising ourselves as a tourist spot. It's not the seaside, it's a dangerous place."

Local police have been showing up in Harpur Hill at peak times, but officers cannot stop visitors walking to the quarry itself as it is privately-owned. They regularly plunge a black dye into the water, but it only lasts a short while and is dispersed by people swimming.

Derbyshire Constabulary has been approached for comment, and a spokesman for the force has told the News Telegraph they cannot get involved with civil matters.

The quarry is flanked by a new cycle track, part of the White Peak Loop and a public right of way, which gives visitors easy access to the short fences which surround the pond itself.

The area's councillors have tried to contact the site's current owner, said to be an Italian man living in Jersey, but their approaches have not had any success. Derbyshire Live has also struggled to track down anyone with responsibility, including a Walsall-based holding company listed as the current owner.

Residents of Harpur Hill have looked into draining the water in the past, but there is nowhere for the toxic soup to go to without polluting the local water-course, and it is feared it would soon refill anyway.

Meanwhile villagers are looking into other ways they can discourage visitors, in the hope that one day arrangements can be made to permanently fill the pond in, and on Monday a local farmer was spotted spreading pungent fertiliser on the fields directly above the quarry.

But the foul aroma wafting down sadly had as much impact on the numbers trespassing as the signs warning the swimmers of "fungal infections such as thrush" and "other infections such as rashes".

For the time being at least, it's a problem that isn't going away.