Rain stops some boating on the Broads

[Alan de Enfield]

High water levels on the River Thurne at Potter Heigham are causing problems for some watercraft trying to pass under the 14th-century stone bridge which spans it. Some vessels are being forced to take on extra ballast in order to be able to sink lower in the water and pass through the archway.

 

Boat hire firms offering holidays on the waterways say silting and heavy downpours caused by climate change have all but stopped larger ships from going through it. And they worry that further extreme weather could lead some companies to fold if the crossing remains largely impassable in the future.

Owner of Martham Boats Ian Curtis, which has been operating for 77 years, said: "I've never known it to be like what we had in October, November and December. If the bridge is not navigable, and my hire boats can't get through that bridge, that just leaves us with 10 per cent of the river system. It's the holiday trade that keeps me in a job and ten guys who work for me. If my boats don't go out, then they haven't got a job."

Robin Richardson, 70, owner of boat hire firm Phoenix Fleet, worried that government agencies were not taking the threat of further wet winters seriously. He added: "If we're to believe what they say about climate change, and the fact that we're going to get much wetter winters, surely now is the time to be making preparations for it?"

 

The medieval bridge, located in the village of Potter Heigham, sits in the heart of the Norfolk Broads and gives boaters access to miles of lock-free waterways. Around eight million visitors flock to the lowlands each year - with a significant number booking pleasure cruisers so they can holiday on the placid waters. But the firms that generate revenue from holidaymakers have been frustrated by government bodies that they claim have not maintained the waterways.

 

And they say the decision not to dredge the riverbed or dig relief channels has cut down on their trade as the Potter Heigham bridge is impassable to larger craft. It normally has around 6ft 9 inches clearance at low tide in the summer months but over the winter, this shrunk to just 4ft 9 inches, they say.

Robin Richardson said the money he used to make from piloting large vessels through the narrow bridge has all but evaporated over the last few years. Robin said: "Up until 1997, we were doing an average of 12,500 trips through the bridge of most cruisers. In the following ten years, that fell from 12,500 to 6,000, then to 5,000 and 4,000, and eventually tailed off to a level where we were doing just below 1000.

"And it kind of plateaued in the last ten years up until October 2022 when there was a storm and we flooded. The river never really emptied properly after that to the extent that last season we took just one motor cruiser through the bridge. If we take it from last season, then it's cost us about £6,000 in not being able to get boats through the bridge, for which we charge for the service."

 

Robin said his boat yard, next to the bridge, has been left underwater over the winter due to flooding - ahead of the start of the holiday season later this month. He added: "It's been difficult... Our reception is an island, and our carpark is underwater, and our yard around our crane is flooded."

Robin felt the river needed to be dredged closer to its mouth at Great Yarmouth. But he said government agencies with interlocking responsibilities for the region and river had not come together to deal with the growing problem. He said: "The seems to be a culture of 'Don't do anything in case we do something wrong'."

 

 

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