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EA To Close Some Navigations


Alan de Enfield

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So according to the minutes of that meeting; closure of some navigations is "an option which may need to form part of the discussion with government".

 

The IWA spin that as; "EA stated that some navigations in their Anglian Region (which includes the Great Ouse and River Nene) may have to be closed"

 

NBW pick up the IWA warning and spin it their way, so it becomes; "The Environmental Agency has stated that it is closing parts of its navigable waterways".

 

I say "spin", but of course I mean "misrepresent".

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So according to the minutes of that meeting; closure of some navigations is "an option which may need to form part of the discussion with government".

 

The IWA spin that as; "EA stated that some navigations in their Anglian Region (which includes the Great Ouse and River Nene) may have to be closed"

 

NBW pick up the IWA warning and spin it their way, so it becomes; "The Environmental Agency has stated that it is closing parts of its navigable waterways".

 

I say "spin", but of course I mean "misrepresent".

In other words, the EA is working up a worst case scenario to put to the government, in the hope it will result in more funding.

 

And the NBW piece was written by the same Alan Tilbury who wrote several pieces saying what a disaster the Gloucester Docks development was -- without having been there. And when he did eventually go there, had to write another piece saying he'd been entirely wrong, and it was actually quite nice, and thriving.

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Welches Dam has been closed for years, the EA acknowledge there is a right of navigation through it, but they haven't the funds to repair it (and the works needed are substantial, not just new gates. It is very difficult to justify restoring a lock that almost no one will use, and part of the reasoning behind the Fenland Waterways Link is to give these navigations a purpose

 

Unless you are the CRT who restored lock gates on the gloucester sharpness canal, which will never be used, i know they had a grant to help towards them, they are gates to nowhere.

But they do look nice. Wouldn't It would be better off diverting the money elsewhere on the system to areas that are used.

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In other words, the EA is working up a worst case scenario to put to the government, in the hope it will result in more funding.

 

And the NBW piece was written by the same Alan Tilbury who wrote several pieces saying what a disaster the Gloucester Docks development was -- without having been there. And when he did eventually go there, had to write another piece saying he'd been entirely wrong, and it was actually quite nice, and thriving.

When EA responded to my information request in mid December, I came to the opposite conclusion. My view was that EA is desperate to dump its navigation responsibilities on C&RT to the extent that it wanted to provide government with a lower cost option.

 

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But they do look nice. Wouldn't It would be better off diverting the money elsewhere on the system to areas that are used.

 

 

I think I know the gates, and they do look nice.

 

There is a view, which seems quite prevalent on this board, that all of CRT's resources should be directed toward maintaining it's waterways for navigation and that spending money on anything else is either wasteful or incompetent or both.

 

My view is that there is benefit in simply preserving and restoring parts of our waterway heritage, even if it's not part of an open navigation and that is in fact a significant part part of CRT's remit.

 

Quite apart from the heritage aspect, the danger of spending money only in the places where boaters go, or go most, is the withered arm effect and a gradually shrinking network. That is probably what the IWA are getting at when they raise their warning about Anglian waterways.

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Unless you are the CRT who restored lock gates on the gloucester sharpness canal, which will never be used, i know they had a grant to help towards them, they are gates to nowhere.

But they do look nice. Wouldn't It would be better off diverting the money elsewhere on the system to areas that are used.

 

 

CRT are responsible for preserving heritage, they hold the canals in trust not just for navigation

 

If Welches Dam only needed new gates it would get them, the structure is sinking into the fen which has rendered it unstable

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If Welches Dam only needed new gates it would get them, the structure is sinking into the fen which has rendered it unstable

Would you care to provide your evidence for this or is it just something the EA would like you to believe?

 

The available surveys provide no indication of what you are suggesting.

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the Environmental Association

Someone fire the sub-editor.

 

The three locks proposed to be left out of use are:

 

Welches Dam on the Old Bedford

Dedham lock on the (Essex and Suffolk) Stour

Harlam Hill lock on the Ancholme.

 

I know Welches Dam has been piled off for some years now, I don't know about the others.

 

There is no suggestion that the Nene or Great Ouse might be affected.

So according to the minutes of that meeting; closure of some navigations is "an option which may need to form part of the discussion with government".

 

The IWA spin that as; "EA stated that some navigations in their Anglian Region (which includes the Great Ouse and River Nene) may have to be closed"

 

NBW pick up the IWA warning and spin it their way, so it becomes; "The Environmental Agency has stated that it is closing parts of its navigable waterways".

 

I say "spin", but of course I mean "misrepresent".

It's just "Alternative Facts".

Edited by FadeToScarlet
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Oh no, not Isleham - would that not leave you in a proverbial pickle, Phil...along with quite a lot of others :-)

Not me personally it would only effect those mooring on the banksides of the island above the lock, maybe about 50 boats plus it would affect the business of Judes Ferry and any boats upstream of the lock.

Mind you the lock was closed for a fee months last year for some serious maintenance so should be good for a bit.

Hard to see the Lark being abandoned because of it's prime purpose in flood prevention and given the fact that EA have flood prevention as number one priority with navigation secondary, if the river is kept on good condition for flood prevention it is also good for navigation.

I can't imagine where the various pumping station's would dump their water if not in the Lark. These pumping stations shift serious amount's of water, enough comes out to knock your boat off course if you are not careful, for size of pumps think back to pictures of the pumps on the rivet Parrot on the Somerset Levels when they flooded.

Phil

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Would you care to provide your evidence for this or is it just something the EA would like you to believe?

 

The available surveys provide no indication of what you are suggesting.

As you travel round the Fens you see stuff sinking into the ground or shifting all the time , draining the land has led to rivers actually being above the surrounding land, and structures suffer from land shrinkage

too.

There is a church near us that at one time had a basement but now has steps going up to enter.

I believe that if I'm correct there was a cast iron pole driven into Wicken Fen level with the ground, this was prior to draining, it now sticks up in the air by several metres.

Phil

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As you travel round the Fens you see stuff sinking into the ground or shifting all the time , draining the land has led to rivers actually being above the surrounding land, and structures suffer from land shrinkage

too.

There is a church near us that at one time had a basement but now has steps going up to enter.

I believe that if I'm correct there was a cast iron pole driven into Wicken Fen level with the ground, this was prior to draining, it now sticks up in the air by several metres.

Phil

Yes, you are quite correct although the pole you are referring to is at Holme Fen and the sinking there is much greater.

 

The Fens surrounding the Forty Foot have shrunk since Vermuyden dug the channel in the 1600's and as a result the Forty Foot beyond Horseway Lock is no longer part of the Middle Level drainage system, with all water being drained from a lower level via the Sixteen Foot drain.

 

However, whilst the EA section of the Forty Foot suffers leakage through the underlying gravel, there is no indication that the Forty Foot channel or the structure of Welches Dam Lock has shrunk as suggested.

 

It is only EA obstinacy that is now delaying an independently funded and full structural survey of the lock.

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I thought the interesting part of those minutes was the discussion on which assets would transfer, both in terms of responsibility for maintenance and also operation (Thames locks & weirs spring to mind). Also interesting to see the discussion re Welsh Harp reservoir, which is surplus to CRT requirements. They (or rather BW) have already disposed of a reservoir at Aldenham near Elstree.

 

A bit off topic, but here is a photo of Holme Fen post.

 

post-13477-0-27980100-1485580554_thumb.jpg

 

 

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You can substitute CRT and canals, Highways Agency and trunk roads, Local Authority and local roads, Network Rail and railways and others in place of EA and rivers. This is just the normal state of affairs for infrastructure managers.

 

 

I'm no expert on the others but you could not substitute the two highlighted as there is a statutory obligation to maintain the public highway though I repeatedly clashed with my former employers as to the exact definition of this statutory obligation.

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Someone fire the sub-editor.

 

The three locks proposed to be left out of use are:

 

Welches Dam on the Old Bedford

Dedham lock on the (Essex and Suffolk) Stour

Harlam Hill lock on the Ancholme.

 

I know Welches Dam has been piled off for some years now, I don't know about the others.

 

There is no suggestion that the Nene or Great Ouse might be affected.

 

It's just "Alternative Facts".

 

Welches Dam has, as you say, been closed for a number of years

 

I don't know much about Dedham, the Stour is one of those navigations I've never been involved with. I think it's one of the 1930's rebuilt locks that is now very difficult to get to. I know boats can't reach the stour from the sea, and that the EA say you must not work the locks yourself, which are both fairy hefty disincentives to using it

 

Harlem Hill has had a chequered history for the last 50 or more years, it gives access to the top two miles of the Ancholme, but there isn't a destination really.

 

That doesn't mean I'm happy about losing any of these, or anything else, but if they are to survive not only is funding needed but a way of gaining more beneficial traffic through them. Welches Dam is on one possible route for the Fenland Waterways Link, but I guess there is little enthusiam for that in the current climate.

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Welches Dam has, as you say, been closed for a number of years

 

I don't know much about Dedham, the Stour is one of those navigations I've never been involved with. I think it's one of the 1930's rebuilt locks that is now very difficult to get to. I know boats can't reach the stour from the sea, and that the EA say you must not work the locks yourself, which are both fairy hefty disincentives to using it

 

Harlem Hill has had a chequered history for the last 50 or more years, it gives access to the top two miles of the Ancholme, but there

 

That doesn't mean I'm happy about losing any of these, or anything else, but if they are to survive not only is funding needed but a way of gaining more beneficial traffic through them. Welches Dam is on one possible route for the Fenland Waterways Link, but I guess there is little enthusiam for that in the current climate.

I think the locks IWA are referring to are Welches Dam, Harlem Hill and St Ives (rather than Dedham). I would suggest they are refering to locks EA has closed as not being in 'safe working order' with no scheduled reopening date.

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And the NBW piece was written by the same Alan Tilbury who wrote several pieces saying what a disaster the Gloucester Docks development was -- without having been there. And when he did eventually go there, had to write another piece saying he'd been entirely wrong, and it was actually quite nice, and thriving.

 

Quite!

 

The words "our Alan Tilbury tells us" (or similar) can usually be taken to mean "don't assume any of this is correct, unless you actually research and check what the true story is".

 

NBW's specialisation is sensationalism, but often the "stories" don't stand close scrutiny, do they?

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I think the locks IWA are referring to are Welches Dam, Harlem Hill and St Ives (rather than Dedham). I would suggest they are refering to locks EA has closed as not being in 'safe working order' with no scheduled reopening date.

 

IWA's list is here https://www.waterways.org.uk/news_campaigns/campaigns/anglian_waterways/background_closure_anglian_waterways

 

Dedham, Harlem Hill, Welches Dam, Old Bedford River.

 

I wondered if Swaffham Lode on the Cam should be added to that list.

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IWA's list is here https://www.waterways.org.uk/news_campaigns/campaigns/anglian_waterways/background_closure_anglian_waterways

 

Dedham, Harlem Hill, Welches Dam, Old Bedford River.

 

I wondered if Swaffham Lode (lock) on the Cam should be added to that list.

 

Currently has no bottom gates, if it's supposed to be navigable then it needs to be added to the list of locks that are closed

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I'm no expert on the others but you could not substitute the two highlighted as there is a statutory obligation to maintain the public highway though I repeatedly clashed with my former employers as to the exact definition of this statutory obligation.

Statutory obligation or not they are still prepared to close infrastructure if it is in unsafe condition. It's actually more stringent than that because it is someone's job to assure the safety of the infrastructure so things can be closed because that can't be done. The Forth Road Bridge is an obvious example.

 

JP

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IWA's list is here https://www.waterways.org.uk/news_campaigns/campaigns/anglian_waterways/background_closure_anglian_waterways

 

Dedham, Harlem Hill, Welches Dam, Old Bedford River.

 

I wondered if Swaffham Lode on the Cam should be added to that list.

St Ives lock was closed on safety grounds about two months ago with no reopening date so perhaps it should be added.

 

It is interesting that the extract quoted from the minutes does not include C&RT's input.

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