Ducks have been left with no water to swim in after a “sinkhole” drained their pond.

The Reeds millpond adjacent to Cave Hill in Tovil, Maidstone, is usually full of water-fowl and fish, but a breach underneath a concrete weir further downstream has all but emptied it.

The Loose Stream, which feeds three millponds in the Lower Loose Valley, continues to run through the pond, but the pond itself has shrunk.

After leaving the millpond, the stream runs alongside the Woodbridge Drive Play area, owned by Maidstone council, before disappearing into a culvert underneath the Woodbridge Drive estate.

It later re-emerges above ground in Albert Reed Gardens on the opposite side of Tovil Hill.

As it passes along the section adjacent to the play area, the water level is usually held back by the concrete weir, but currently the stream is at least two feet lower than the top of the concrete, with the water flowing underneath the construction.

Bryn Cornwell is chairman of the Valley Conservation Society. He said: “On the Tovil side of the weir, you can see the water gushing through from a hole underneath.

“We notified the Environment Agency. They came out to look, but they said that as long as the stream was still flowing, they weren’t interested in the mill-pond.

“We have also reported the situation to Maidstone council, who own the weir, and hope they will repair it. Otherwise the wildlife on our pond is lost.”

Maidstone council said it has been monitoring the situation daily since its first visit last Wednesday.

A spokesman said: “The council became aware of a leak in the Mill Pond weir last week and is working closely with the Environment Agency to resolve the situation.

“Following assessment from the Environment Agency and the Council, there is reassurance that the river channel has plenty of capacity, so there is no increased flooding risk. Additionally, the fish are not in distress.

“The structural inspection of the weir and expert advice from the Environment Agency specialists will inform the best way forward. Options could include a repair of the weir, or to explore restoring a more natural stream system.”

A spokesman for the agency said: “Staff attended the report of a failure in a retaining weir structure on a mill pond in Tovil, Maidstone, May 16.

“Our teams wanted to check the situation around this third party owned structure to ensure there was no increased flood risk and understand any environmental impacts. We will continue to monitor the situation and liaise with the weir owner.”

The site lies within the Loose Valley Conservation Area, a designation intended to preserve the area’s industrial heritage as a historic setting for Maidstone’s paper mills.

The pond is named after the Reeds paper mill, which once sat on the site of what is now the Woodbridge estate.