Water well advice needed

[Will lindsay]

Hi guys, i hope someone can help with some advice please.

I have an old house from 1895 and outside the back door is an old water well (5ft wide, 6 ft deep) which is still active, although you woudnt want to drink the water! The level inside never really chamges but you can hear drips now and again from any one of the four 4” clay drainage pipes that flow into it. It seems to be an old soakaway from the land around it.

Im planning on doing a single storey rear extension to the kitchen and really want to make a feature of the well, (with lighting inside and a reinforced glass cover), so that it is on show in the middle of the kitchen floor.

I am a tradesman and have renovated and extended a lot of properties for myself and others with my own bare hands, but completely lack any experience of water wells.

These are are the questions im having real trouble getting answers for:

1. How do I stop soakaway water from dripping in to the well so that it stays dry, and reduce the potential for any ground heave in or near the extension?

2. Is the building inspector going to insist I fill it in, or worse still, simply tell me he has issues with me building over or near it?

3. Could anybody please give me some advice?

Thanks for your time, guys

Will (yes thats ‘Will’, not well!)