A MYSTERY entrepreneur is poised to begin serving at a new cafe created as part of a £3.1 million breath of fresh air for Stourbridge’s Mary Stevens Park.

But, as work continues apace to refurbish historic features – including the park gates and bandstand – a local resident has expressed continued concerns about the fate of ducks living on the lake, many of which have been driven away by the work.

Dudley Council’s green spaces team leader Liz Stuffins said, however, that the restoration of the lake had been guided by expert advice from ecologists.

She assured the public the wild fowl were “capable of looking after themselves” and that, when work on the lake was completed, the birds should return.

She also revealed the final touches were being put to a lease of the cafe being created in the old ‘print room’ of the council offices, near the bowling green and it was set to open ready for the school holidays in July.

A local entrepreneur with another coffee shop in Stourbridge is keen to take on the new business but is not being named until the lease has been signed.

Ms Stuffins said the shotblasting of the Grade II listed gates was going well and the park’s railings, bandstand and war memorial would all “look stunning” by July.

Drainage of the lake will not start until the autumn to keep disruption to people using the park to a minimum.

In the meantime, orange netting is still draped around the sides of the large pond, which was erected to prevent birds nesting there until the completion of work to drain it, repair the surrounding walls and replace the polluted water.

Sheila Davies, a 67-year-old Stourbridge grandmother, said: “The lake looks worse than an old builder’s yard and the whole thing is a fiasco.

“Only about half of the ducks that used to live on the lake are still there.

“People have had to hop over the railings to rescue ducks stuck in the miserable netting.

“They’ve put two old pallets up on the bank to give the ducks some shelter but a lot of them have pushed off elsewhere.

“What I’m desperately worried about is if other birds come and don’t know about the netting they could get tangled up in it.”

Ms Stuffins said “huge amounts” of nutrients had built up in the lake – possibly from people feeding bread to the ducks and faeces from the birds.

Damage from alder tree roots growing through the walls had also caused the water to be out of balance, with a build-up of some toxic blue-green algae.

“We have followed the advice of ecologists to prepare to put the lake back into balance,” she added.

The ambitious makeover for the park has been made possible thanks to a £2.6 million contribution by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Big Lottery Fund under the Parks for People programme.