Higher Avon Navigation - what's the story?

[Morat]

I was just messing around with Canal Planner AC during lunch (as you do) and found the Higher Avon Navigation. Apparently there is an association that plans to restore it, but does anyone know what the current state of play is?

thanks

Morat

 

https://www.waterways.org.uk/waterways/restoration/campaigns/restoration/avon_higher/avon_higher

Edited July 15, 2014 by Morat

[keble]

Yes, the restoration made the news a few days ago:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-28261364

 

"Plans to make the River Avon navigable as far as Warwick have been announced.

Continuous boating on the river from Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, currently ends at Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire.

A feasibility study is now under way for the Avon Extension, which the trusts involved said would be closer to King Charles I's original 1635 river navigation plan.

They believe the "cruising loop" would attract visitors and boost tourism."

[john6767]

The connection of the Avon up to the GU in Warwick a been on the cards for quite some time http://www.swwaterway.co.uk/ I went to to talk they did on the subject some years ago.

 

One of the issues was that this has been opposed by riparian land owners who don't want the river to be navigable. Not sure if the recent publicity from the Stratford River Festival really means that any progress has been made or not. At one time I believe that Tussauds, the owners of Warwick Castle, were also opposed to the scheme, but I think they are on board now.

 

If I remember correctly they say that something like 94% of the river needs nothing doing to it to make in navigable, they just need locks round the existing weirs, and a canal section at Barford where the river is very shallow.

[Morat]

Riparian Landowners eh? I bet those objections could be overcome for a decent bung. That's probably all they're hanging on for. Once it's open they'll be letting moorings and setting up coffee shops all down the banks.

/cynicism

 

It looks to be a really good scheme, judging by the routes that it will join up.

Edited July 15, 2014 by Morat

[Victor Vectis]

If I remember correctly they say that something like 94% of the river needs nothing doing to it to make in navigable, they just need locks round the existing weirs, and a canal section at Barford where the river is very shallow.

 

And a lock flight/boat lift up to GU level.

[Chalky]

 

And a lock flight/boat lift up to GU level.

 

With back pumping / reservoir to cope with the extra traffic.

[blackrose]

I wonder if borstal inmates would be used as labour for the next phase of the restoration?

 

Much too un-PC these days I imagine...

[craftycarper]

I wonder if borstal inmates would be used as labour for the next phase of the restoration?

 

Much too un-PC these days I imagine...

. I doubt it borstal was abolished around the end of the 80's early 90's as it was considered un PC even back then

[patty-ann]

Well plenty more possible labour inside HM Hotels
Would be good to give them sense of well being, a chance to work in the countryside and be at one with nature, breathe in fresh air and repay society.

Would be even better if as a result more of our waterways were open to boating. Fantastic all round.

[keble]

Well plenty more possible labour inside HM Hotels

Would be good to give them sense of well being, a chance to work in the countryside and be at one with nature, breathe in fresh air and repay society.

Would be even better if as a result more of our waterways were open to boating. Fantastic all round.

Yes, fully agree with that!

[craftycarper]

A lot of the original renovation of the river Avon was carried out by the inmates from Gloucester prison but now they have human rights so it's kinder to let them sit in a cell on a play station and plan there next crime for when they get out ,instead of as you suggest get out doors enjoy the countryside and learn some social skills

[john6767]

A lot of the original renovation of the river Avon was carried out by the inmates from Gloucester prison but now they have human rights so it's kinder to let them sit in a cell on a play station and plan there next crime for when they get out ,instead of as you suggest get out doors enjoy the countryside and learn some social skills

When we were in Gloucester recently I was told that the prison has now closed, so they are probably all at home now!

 

We came up the Avon last week and it is interesting looking at the signs on the upper Avon locks with the dates of when the locks were built. Most were built in the space of a couple of months, shame we can't do that type of thing any more, even though they are not exactly pretty.

[craftycarper]

When we were in Gloucester recently I was told that the prison has now closed, so they are probably all at home now!

 

We came up the Avon last week and it is interesting looking at the signs on the upper Avon locks with the dates of when the locks were built. Most were built in the space of a couple of months, shame we can't do that type of thing any more, even though they are not exactly pretty.

. A bit like the current hs2 fiasco ,I read somewhere recently that isambard Kingdom Brunel built the great western railway in6 years from planning to finish makes you wonder are we really making progress or were the old ways really the best

[magpie patrick]

A lot of the original renovation of the river Avon was carried out by the inmates from Gloucester prison but now they have human rights so it's kinder to let them sit in a cell on a play station and plan there next crime for when they get out ,instead of as you suggest get out doors enjoy the countryside and learn some social skills

 

Actually, there are several things wrong with this statement: there is no bar at all on using prison labour and it does still happen

 

However, compared to the 1970's there are sentences that compel offenders to do this sort of work instead of going to prison, which means much of the available work is directed there.

 

And I can think of one instance where the service providing the "labourers" wanted to charge commercial rates, which defeated one of the objects of the exercise. The recipient organistation went and found other volunteers.

[craftycarper]

Actually, there are several things wrong with this statement: there is no bar at all on using prison labour and it does still happen

 

However, compared to the 1970's there are sentences that compel offenders to do this sort of work instead of going to prison, which means much of the available work is directed there.

 

And I can think of one instance where the service providing the "labourers" wanted to charge commercial rates, which defeated one of the objects of the exercise. The recipient organistation went and found other volunteers.

. Can't really see anything wrong with my original statement and the rest of your reply refers to community service or community payback orders not prisoners which is pretty self explanatory and even one of these recently won a human rights court case because wearing an orange vest was against his human rights so until our prison service is run like America and totally privatised I really can't see you finding many inmates digging out any more miles of the river Avon sorry

[hughc]

This is a long overdue extension. It is being suggested that it will provide a wide beam cross-country route but didn't BW insist that the link had a narrow section as they didn't agree that the GU was a wide beam waterway. Regards, HughC.

[David Mack]

The Queen Mother reopened the South Stratford in 1964 and the Upper Avon in 1974. I think the hope was that she would return another decade later to open the Higher Avon. But the project just got bogged down. Warwick Castle objected. The National Trust objected (because of alleged impacts on Charlcote Park) and and even suggested they would close the South Stratford which they then operated, if the Higher Avon project progressed. I think that position led to them eventually handing the canal back to BW. The political climate was changing. The gung-ho approach Hutch adopted on the Stratford and Upper Avon was no longer acceptable. And the project just lost momentum. Periodically it surfaces again, but really needs someone to champion it and push it through against the opposition if it is to happen.

 

A real shame, since the amount of physical work required is much less than for the Upper Avon. All the weirs needed are in place and there is navigable depth and headroom virtually througout. All it needs is a few lock structures, a couple of lock cuts and linking locks to the GU. There is a legal right of navigation (although I think this may be disputed). And yet no boats.

[ditchcrawler]

Well plenty more possible labour inside HM Hotels

Would be good to give them sense of well being, a chance to work in the countryside and be at one with nature, breathe in fresh air and repay society.

Would be even better if as a result more of our waterways were open to boating. Fantastic all round.

We have had prison inmates working on the River Gipping restoration, not many, only a few. They actually miss out by doing it as they have to leave prison before breakfast. Some of them have been very good.

. A bit like the current hs2 fiasco ,I read somewhere recently that isambard Kingdom Brunel built the great western railway in6 years from planning to finish makes you wonder are we really making progress or were the old ways really the best

Because everyone is windging about it, in Brunells dat the only people who got a chance to windge were the moneyed ones, and they just got bought off just like the canals and Tixal Wide

[blackrose]

. I doubt it borstal was abolished around the end of the 80's early 90's as it was considered un PC even back then

 

Really? Didn't they just change the name to Young Offenders Institutions?

A lot of the original renovation of the river Avon was carried out by the inmates from Gloucester prison...

 

And also inmates from local borstals. At least that's what it says on plaques on many of the locks.

Edited July 17, 2014 by blackrose

[magpie patrick]

Leaving the niceties of exactly WHERE the labour for the Higher Avon will come from, it isn't quite as simple as putting locks round each weir even if the political and land owner objections can be overcome.In particular there is a big loop at Barford where the depths, gradient and weir options are not straightforward and would need significant in channel works, and a cut is proposed here.

 

That said, in engineering terms there isn't anything complicated, it's the money and the political will, as it often is, that is needed.

 

http://www.swwaterway.co.uk/navigation.html

[sharpness]

There are many local projects & organisations here in Wotton-under-Edge which have benefitted greatly from volunteer labour from Leyhill Open prison just down the road.

 

Steve

[Graham Davis]

Do they still wear donkey jackets with blue shoulders?

[craftycarper]

Do they still wear donkey jackets with blue shoulders?

. Only to go to the local pub on a Sunday I think they used to do very well in the Chelsea flower show most years as well

[Graham Davis]

. Only to go to the local pub on a Sunday I think they used to do very well in the Chelsea flower show most years as well

 

Is The Royal Oak in Cromhall still open?

When I lived in Charfield that was always the first place they looked if someone went missing.

 

When I was in the St John Ambulance in Worcester we always had a duty at a motorbike scramble near Upton on Severn and there was invariable a group of them from Leyhill there helping the set-up and marshalling. They always wore the donkey jackets.

[warwickshireman]

I have in my possession a brochure entitled 'The Leam Link' which I picked up at a boat show maybe 15 years ago.

 

The plan was to make a short cut from the GU at Radford Semele dropping down through 2 locks into the River Leam which is only about 100 metres away at that point. The navigation was then to follow the Leam through Victoria Park in Leaminton with 2 more locks and entering the Avon via the Leam a short distance north east of the GU aqueduct over the river.