The Inland Waterways Association Great Ouse Branch's newsletter, Ouse News, Summer 2015
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Ouse News - Summer 2015 The Great Ouse Branch Newsletter covering the Great Ouse and tributaries Campaigning for the conservation, use, maintenance, restoration and development of the Inland Waterways. The Inland Waterways Association The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the Inland Waterways Association or of the Great Ouse Branch. They are, however, published as being of interest to our members and readers. Rush hour at St Neots Lock Image courtesy of the Environment Agency Waterways Team Contents: Branch Committee p2 Chairmans Corner p4 Electrifying the Ouse p6 RSPB Lakenheath p8 River Cam Update p10 Welches Dam p12 Ousefest p13 Book Review p15 River News from EA p18 Branch News p19 WRG Appeal p27
Transcript
Ouse News - Summer 2015The Great Ouse Branch Newslettercovering the Great Ouse and tributaries
Campaigning for the conservation,use, maintenance, restoration and
development of the InlandWaterways.
The InlandWaterwaysAssociation
The views expressed in thispublication are not
necessarily those of theInland Waterways
Association or of the GreatOuse Branch. They are,however, published asbeing of interest to ourmembers and readers.
Rush hour at St Neots LockImage courtesy of the Environment Agency Waterways Team
We are a small, friendly group andwould welcome another committeemember to help us organise meetingsand events. Please contact the editor.
Great Ouse BranchCommittee:
(Authorised toexamine all private
boats and in addition,residential boatsprovided they arefitted with a gasbubble tester)
Additional contact :Ely Boat Chandlers -
01353 663095
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Chairman�s CornerThe start of the sunny spring weather certainly got many boaters out andabout early this year. We managed a few days away at Easter, but mustconfess to having to light our solid fuel stove to keep the cold wind at bay.The Grand Union around our base at Blisworth was certainly very busywith many private and hire-boats on the move.
However, locally there seemed to be a high proportion of GRP cruisers stillout of the water long after Easter. We subsequently enjoyed a sometimessunny, but often wet and windy trip up the Leicester Section and onto theWelford Arm. Both of these waterways are most attractive and well worthvisiting.
The mooring situation at Ely is gradually getting nearer to being resolved,with much hard work being carried out by the staff at East Cambs DistrictCouncil. The latest progress report indicates that the new enforcementregime will not now be in place until July at the earliest. I do hope so, as Ihave lost count of the number of people who have said to me that, due tothe current situation, they no longer try to take their boats to Ely. This notonly stops their enjoyment of the river, but also results in a loss of trade formany local businesses. Think of the poor chandlery owners!
The major issue, nationally, remains the possible transfer of the navigationscurrently controlled by the Environment Agency to the Canal & River Trust.The IWA centrally continue to lobby hard for the transfer to happen, but asalways there is the question of money. When the canal network was trans-ferred from the auspices of British Waterways to the CRT it came with adowry of payments for at least 10 years, plus a big fat property portfolio.The latter has been very successfully exploited by the CRT and will providea legacy of income for many years to come. Sadly, there will be no suchlegacy from the EA as, in the main, they do not own either the river bank orthe adjoining land. The CRT is understandably not willing to take on ourrivers without a dependable income stream, rather than the vagaries of anannual DEFRA grant.
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Keith Alderton
I hope that the new government will eventually find a way to provide ad-equate finance to enact the change � but do not hold your breath! At leastwe have the comfort of knowing that the infrastructure of our navigations isgenerally in a much better state of repair than on many canals.
Your committee has once again strived to put together a varied autumnprogramme of meetings and activities, including an evening visit in Novem-ber to see the thousands of Whooper and Berwick swans fly into WelneyWetland Centre at dusk. It is quite a spectacle to observe and an event thatshould not be missed.
Have a great cruising season.
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In conservation circles, the story of RSPBLakenheath Fen has almost become legend. Moreor less 20 years to the day (give or take a coupleof months), the RSPB purchased a square mile of arable farmland andpoplar woods. The society�s vision was to transform the area into a wetlandthat would become a home for bitterns in the future. Well, it�s now �thefuture� so to speak, and in 2014 the reserve was home to seven boomingmale bitterns and four successful nests. This is a wonderful achievementconsidering that back in 1997 there were only 11 male bitterns in Britain.Fast forward 17 years, and there were over 140 booming males in Britainlast year.
While the reserve was being created, our nearest bitterns were at theNational Trust�s Wicken Fen National Nature Reserve, which is around 15miles from the reserve. So how on earth did they find their way here?
The first thing to consider is that we only see these secretive members of theheron family during the day, and generally any flights we see are very short.However, they must occasionally take long flights otherwise they wouldnever find any new areas of reedbed to call home. The answer to thisconundrum is that they only move long distances at night, when most of usare tucked up in bed!
I realise that this still doesn�t answer the question though. This is whererivers come in. The theory goes that at the end of the breeding season,bitterns that are looking for new nesting sites fly along river courses at nightlooking for new homes.
Now that this story is beginning to come together, we can now apply itspecifically to RSPB Lakenheath Fen. Conveniently, the current northernboundary of the reserve is the river Little Ouse, which rises in the WaveneyValley before meeting the river Great Ouse at Brandon Creek, just northeast of Ely.
Follow the River!
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Therefore, the way that bitterns found theirway here was by flying along the river fromreedbeds like Wicken Fen or the NorfolkBroads until they found RSPB LakenheathFen, a perfect home for them!
The first sighting of one of these elusive birdson the reserve was in January 2002 and weheard our first booming male in May 2006. They first nested in 2009, whenthere were four booming males and four successful nests. (The rest, as theysay, is history!)
This year, things are gearing up nicely. We currently have up to six boomingmales on the reserve and if you come and visit at the moment, you have agood chance of hearing one. The best times of day to come and listen areearly in the morning and in the evening.
I hope this article has inspired you to come and listen and look for bitternshere at RSPB Lakenheath Fen. Wehope to see you soon!
David WhiteVisitor Experience OfficerRSPB Lakenheath Fen
(Photos: Jim Palfry)
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I�m one year into the job as River Manager and finallybeginning to find my feet. We have had an extremely busyperiod at the end of the financial year with our registrationrenewals. Apologies to anyone still waiting for their licence
disc (we had delays at the printers), please be reassured it will be with yousoon. If you are concerned do give us a call.
I have also been in the news a little, with the urban myth of �Deadly CamSwans� rearing its head again. I�ve had one reported incident involving aswan in 6 months which is well below average, so I think this story is onebased on little more than idle imaginings � keeps us on our toes though!
River Cam Update
River Crew
Visiting the Cam
We have had a busy time working out on the river these past few months.We�ve started major bank repairs along the Cam near to the A14 bridgeand these will be continuing throughout the year. We also spent some timeclearing pennywort on the upper river. Pennywort is an invasive specieswhich can choke watercourses if left unchecked. We�re hoping to get ontop of this and the Environment Agency has also offered to help by supplyingus with spraying treatments. Also, we have been pulling out our usualcollection of bikes, trolleys and other random items that seem to find theirway into the river!
I�d like to clarify what the arrangements are this year for visiting the Cam.We have renegotiated our agreement with the Environment Agency, so thatif you buy a �Cam Premium� at the time of renewal you can get this for only3% of your annual licence fee (down from 5% last year). We are also ableto offer a visitor licence to gold licence holders for 3%. You can buy thisfrom us directly online. We regularly monitor the visitor moorings inCambridge and they generally have space in all but the busiest periods (andeven then double mooring is possible in town). So it would be great to seemore people visiting us this year.
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We would like to get to the point where the Cam is included as part of anEnvironment Agency licence for free and will be continuing negotiations thisyear to try to reach that point � it all comes down to finances though.Cam Clean-UpWe had a great Clean-Up this year with close to200 volunteers involved inlitter picking and haulingitems out of the Cam.The event was opened bythe mayor and came witha free BBQ at the FortSt George pub. Our bestfind was a bag full ofjewellery. Thanks to the Police, they traced this back to its owner who hadbeen burgled recently. The River looks so much better thanks to everyone�sefforts and we hope to repeat this event again, probably in September.
New Office
We have received planning permission to build our new office on our riverfrontage here at Clayhithe. This is part of our programme to increase ourincome though renting out our old office at Baits Bite and also to invest someof our reserves in property for the future. We are currently out to tender andhope to begin construction soon.
Please note that for all events the river is still navigable and, where possible,we try to publish contact numbers of event organisers to help arrange passage.
Tuesday 21 � Friday 24 July � Town Bumps
Upcoming events and works on the Cam
Jed RamseyRiver ManagerConservators ofthe River Cam
Restoration of Welches Dam and the Forty Foot navigation:Some background and initial progress
Welches Dam was originally constructed by Cornelius Vermuyden in 1651as part of his drainage system, along with the Forty Foot (or Vermuydens�Drain). It was last repaired by the National Rivers Authority and re-openedin March 1991, but has been effectively closed since mid 2006. The Envi-ronment Agency (EA) installed a piled �temporary� coffer dam at the en-trance to Welches Dam ostensibly to prevent leakage but effectively pre-venting passage. The piling was never capable of preventing even the slight-est leakage, as there is a gap of approximately a metre in the piling which,despite the Agency�s insistence, will inevitably pass water!
However, the navigation from the Welches Dam junction with the Old Bed-ford River westwards as far as Horseway Lock is unusable, as there isbarely a bucketful of water in the entire length unless there has been heavyrain! The bed and sides of the drain have become porous and will only holdwater for a very short period of time. The reason that there is no waterfrom the Old Bedford River is that it is held back, not by the Agency�s pilingbut by the, clearly still operable, lock gates! At present if it were perma-nently opened to a water supply from the Old Bedford River it would sim-ply leach into the surrounding fields, which would be unacceptable to thefarmers.
There has been much discussion about the EA having the statutory duty tomaintain it, (which they have now accepted) without them and others hav-ing recourse to costly legal remedy. Alas, the cost to the EA to return thewaterway to full use would be prohibitive, but neither can it be abandoned.A group has been formed from members of the East Anglian WaterwaysAssociation (EAWA) and the IWA Peterborough Branch (it is in their catch-ment area) with support from the Great Ouse Branch. This is still in itsinfancy, but much work has been already undertaken on the feasibility ofrestoring this historical part of the waterway to full use.
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The Horseway Lock and the Forty Foot Drain continuing further west-wards are managed by the Middle Level Commissioners (MLC) and are inuse. At present, there are a number of solutions to the leakage problembeing considered; all being some form of liner along the full length of thesection between the two locks. A balance has to be struck between costand ease of handling and installation. Several options are currently beingevaluated, including liners capable of self-sealing in the event of damage. Ahuge technical step change from the puddling clay employed by the originalnavigators! A number of options will be considered regarding installation ofthe selected material using mechanical plant and volunteers which, hope-fully, will include the Waterways Recovery Group (WRG) from the IWA, ahighly professional voluntary group! (See page 27)
Evaluation will be assisted by an upcoming site visit to the MontgomeryCanal, whose restoration volunteers are currently undertaking a similarproject. After the visit we will have a clearer view of the advantages andlimitations of their chosen materials and methods which will assist our ownevaluation. There will be more information on the results of that later. This,of course, will be a medium term project but it is hoped that the waterwaywill be eventually restored to its former 17th century (and later) glory using21st century technology. Further notes on this will follow as the projectprogresses. John Hodgson
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Ousefest is a fortnight of events celebrating the Ouse Washes landscape,heritage and communities; with events happening all over the area, from StIves to Downham Market between July 20th and August 2nd. It is part of alarger Heritage Lottery funded project to promote the whole Ouse Washesarea. For those out and about by boat over the fortnight, there are severalriverside events where you could tie up nearby and come and join in.
On Saturday 25th July at St Ives, why not moor up at the St Ives OldRiverport Discovery Day? Hosted by St Ives Town Team, in associationwith several local community groups, discover the story of the Great Ouse,its impact on St Ives as an important river port and the new developmentstaking place.
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There will be children�s activities, craft sessions, talks, exhibitions, poetry,music and film - free activities for all ages from 10am-10pm. See the fullprogramme at: www.theoldriverportstives.co.uk.
At Prickwillow, on the River Lark, moor up next to the Pumping EngineMuseum; they will be running their fascinating engines as part of their Fam-ily Fun Day on Sunday 26th July from 11am-4:30pm. There will be plentyof games and activities. A BBQ lunch and sandwiches will be available forpurchase.
On Tuesday July 28th, from 10am - 4pm, the Environment Agency will behosting an event at Denver Sluice. This will be a great family day out, withinteresting displays about the importance of the Denver Sluice Complexand how it works, local wildlife, the history of eels in the Fens, as well as are-enactment of the 1870 Flat Earth Trials along the New Bedford Riverfrom the Cambridge Archaeological Unit; together with a chance to tryboating with the West Norfolk Rowing Club, or take a trip on the RiverInspector�s boat. The Jenyn�s Arms will be open all day, and there areplenty of EA moorings at Denver. On the three days leading up to the Denverevent, there will also be opportunities to join tours of the Denver Complex.Places are limited so please reserve yours by contacting Sara Marshall [email protected] or 01353 86502.
If you moor up in Ely during Ouse Fest, there�s plenty happening there too.The Stained Glass Museum at Ely Cathedral is holding a Fen Landscapesin Glass exhibition, and Toppings Bookshop is hosting a Writing The Fensliterary evening with local authors on Wednesday 22nd July at 7:10pm in StPeter�s Church, Broad Street. Tickets are £6/7 and can be purchased viaToppings bookshop (01353 645005).For the full programme of events, visit www.ousewashes.org.uk/ousefest.
Amy TillsonMarketing and Events Intern,Ouse Washes Landscape Partnership
Book Review by Stephen Foote
When her business collapsed in the wake of the demise ofthe Rover Group, Marie Browne and her husband were left with no alter-native but to �downsize� � from an executive home in the Midlands to a verytired former �hotel� narrowboat purchased in Braunston and limped to theriver Great Ouse. This book is the tale of that journey and their live-aboardlife thereafter.
�Narrow Margins�
It is an amusing tale and certainly made me smile; but as Spike Milligan saidof his war memoirs �I�ve jazzed them up a bit�. So has Ms. Browne withher story � at least I hope she has, because if not, it is hard to understandhow she and her husband survived beyond the entrance of Braunston Ma-rina. At times their collective dopeyness makes you want to leap into thepages, grab them by the scruffs of their necks and shake some commonsense into them.
So this is how I think the reader should take �Nar-row Margins� � light-heartedly and as a recollec-tion that sets out to entertain rather than to betaken seriously. Of especial fascination is the factthat the family based themselves on the GreatOuse, at Popes Corner Marina. You may well
recognise people and places you know, albeit disguised of course, and thisadds some intrigue.
Indeed, my wife and I kept our narrowboat at Popes Corner during theperiod the Brownes were there, although I don�t recall ever meeting them;we too were at the IWA 2007 National Festival in St.Ives, slithering aroundin the mud; we too were on the river the weekend of the �hottest day of theyear� in July 2006. At times I almost felt part of the story � a strange expe-rience!
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Thanks to Malcolm and Suzy (NB Lucy Charlotte) for lending me �NarrowMargins� and to my brother Andy (NB Isis) who is going to lend me thesequel though I haven�t told him yet�
Narrow Margins by Marie BrowneAccent Press Ltd., 2009ISBN 9781 9070 16004
It is a shame that the book has not been that well proof-read and is ratheroversupplied with spelling errors. At one point the words �Banbury� and�Daventry� have become transposed, causing me much confusion and aquick delve into the map-book to see how on earth the Brownes had man-aged to execute a 180° turn like that.
All good fun though and Marie Browne has penned a sequel to �NarrowMargins� which I spied on my brother�s bookshelf. I am looking forward toreading that next.
Wildlife spotted on the water last summer:
Near Stoke-on-Trent
On the Wissey
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Photo: Fred Ray
Photo: Graham Riley
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The Environment Agency Waterways and Field Operations Teams recentlycompleted canoe access improvements at Bottisham Lock on the RiverCam in May. These works were carried out in conjunction with the AnglianWaterways Group Canoe England andfollow suggestions from them to makecanoe portage at this location easier andsafer.
The works were relatively low cost andinvolved introducing additional low levelfendering on the upstream landing stage(see photo) to prevent canoes and otherportable craft from slipping beneath the deck staging whilst people wereexiting and entering their craft. This should also make it easier and safer to
lift your craft out of the water without itsnagging on the side of the landing stage.
At the same time we also improved theportage route by removing a dog leg andintroducing a new gate (see photo) sothat access can be made directly acrossthe footpath giving those carrying smallportable craft a straight, direct route be-
tween the upstream and downstream sides of Bottisham Lock. New signagewill be installed to way mark the new route and make it clear where canoe-ists should port around the lock.
We hope these improvements are a welcome addition to this well used lockon the River Cam and make porting around the site easier in the future forour portable craft river users.
Canoe Portage Improvements on the River Camat Bottisham Lock
River News from the Environment Agency:
Cont�d on page 20
Winter MeetingsBranch News
Members & Visitors welcome.
are at 8 pm on Thursday eve-nings at the Cole�s RoadCommunity Centre, Milton(North Cambridge) CB24 6BL.
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THURSDAY 26TH NOV 2015
Our November meeting will be anillustrated talk by RCR (River CanalRescue).
THURSDAY 25TH FEBRUARY 2016
Our March meeting will be our AGMand update from the River Managersof the Environment Agency.
THURSAY 24TH MARCH 2016
We welcomethe followingnew members
to the branch. We hope youwill introduce yourselves to uswhen coming to an event ormeeting:THURSDAY 22ND OCTOBER 2015
Our October meeting will be anillustrated talk by Richard Thomas on�The Highland Canals�.
Our February meeting will be anillustrated talk by Jed Ramsey, RiverManager, Conservators of the RiverCam.
Members who have movedto the branch:
WEDNESDAY 18TH NOV 2015
Proposed visit to WWT (WelneyWetland Centre) to see the SwanFeed, plus Sausage & Mash Supper.More details to follow.
David & Margaret Finnigan,Gamlingay, Bedfordshire
Leon Meredith, Bedford
Christopher Morgan, St Ives
Trevor & Kerry Bentley,Bar Hill, Cambridge
Kate Holbrook, Cambridge
Simon & Frances Nicholson ,Swineshead, Bedford
Simon Malins & Family,Balsham, Cambridge
Judy Moon, West Dereham,King�s Lynn, Norfolk
Steve Mungovan,Hinxton, Saffron Walden, Essex
John & Carole Greenwood,Bedford
Stephen & J Prentice,Priory Marina, Bedford
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For those of you who have used St Ives Lock in recent months, you mayhave noticed an issue with the guillotine gate operation; in that the gate isdelaying on opening and, in some instances, is requiring to be lowered againbefore being raised once more, incurring the time delay again even thoughthe lock chamber has emptied. Unfortunately, this is resulting in delays atthe lock and whilst, at present, this is an inconvenience, during the busiersummer months the delays have the potential to grow as more boaters queueto use the lock.
Firstly, the Environment Agency apologises for any inconvenience this hascaused to our customers to date. It would appear a perception has devel-oped that no action is being taken in relation to this issue; so, secondly, wewould like to explain what is happening and provide some reassurance thatthe matter is being looked at and treated with urgency.
Initially the lock was refurbishedback in 2012 and a significantamount of investment was spent onthe guillotine gate (see photo). Ini-tially for a couple of years no is-sues were detected; howeverwithin the last few months prob-lems have been reported with theelectric operation of the guillotinegate. A number of visits to site havebeen made by technicians and adjustments made to the gate operation but,unfortunately, to no avail.
Earlier this year, in March, we carried out a drain down inspection of thelock. This usually focuses on the structure that normally lays below thewaterline but, on this occasion, we also took the opportunity to investigatethe issues relating to the guillotine gate.
St Ives Lock Guillotine Gate Operation
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It was suspected that a couplingon the high level drive shaft of thegate (see photo) may have been apossible cause of the issue as therewas movement and slippage in thecoupling when in use. At the timeof the inspection the coupling wasstripped down and some compo-nent parts replaced; although itwas found that the coupling was
performing as it should do, hence no further action was taken at the time.
Whilst investigations continue, we are proceeding on the grounds that adesign issue may be the cause. As such, a new design is required and thiswill take some time to develop. To change the design and implement any-thing new is also very likely to result in a lock closure over a number of daysto achieve this, potentially involving scaffolding off of the guillotine gate orstrapping the gate and counter weight.
We are extremely careful to avoid this type of closure during the busy boat-ing season, usually deferring any planned maintenance activity to over thewinter period unless deemed as an emergency.
Unfortunately, whilst conducting a routine maintenance visit and inspectionat St Ives Lock on Thursday 4th June 2015 we had to close the structureand issue an emergency closure notice to alert river users to the fact thatthey would be unable to pass.
Of course we realise this is far from ideal and apologise for the impact thishas on navigation activity and understand the frustration that this can cause.Where possible we avoid any planned maintenance works that could giverise to closures throughout the main boating season from Easter to the endof October.
However, there will be occasions where closures during the main seasonare unavoidable. These will usually be emergency closures caused by abreakdown or mechanical failure, although other incidents can and do oc-cur. Primarily a navigation closure will be because of health and safetyconcerns. Your wellbeing is our top priority and we don�t want to exposeany of our staff or customers to any danger or potential harm. For thisreason we will close the structure until we can ascertain what risk to yoursafety may be involved.
With lock structures, any issues with the vertical lifting gates could compro-mise the integrity of the gate and, as lock passage involves our customerspassing directly under these gates, we have to be absolutely sure that thereis no risk of the gate failing whilst in use. The consequences of which couldbe catastrophic, as these gates and component parts can weigh upwards ofthirty tonnes.
In the interim, we have investigated the cause of the problem. This hashelped us determine the level of health and safety risk that the fault poses.The investigation has helped us to determine that the gate can continue tobe used, but we are manually operating the gate to allow boats to passthrough the lock with a staff operative present.
Whilst a long term solution is sought to this issue, we will continue to oper-ate the lock on a restricted basis, between the hours of 10:00 to 16:00every day. Environment Agency staff will be present on site and provideassisted lock passage until such time that permanent repairs can be under-taken. Once the details of these repairs are established we will provideinformation as far in advance as is possible, as it is likely the work mayinvolve a closure for a short period of time. We will try to undertake theseemergency repairs in a way that causes minimal disruption. However, werealise that inconvenience can�t be avoided altogether where a lock closureis involved. We will provide updates when they become available via ourusual navigation notices, e-mail and our twitter feed: @PaulSeparovicEA
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Keeping a level head - June 2015
The issue of water level management is a delicate balancing act that requiresa level head and a high level of engagement with a wide range of Environ-ment Agency teams and other third parties and stakeholders. Whilst anexact level on a river can never be guaranteed, we do work towards main-taining a stable retained level as far as is reasonably practicable and possi-ble, given all of the interests and variables that feed into determining the riverlevel.
We have to take into consideration such factors as the weather causingflooding, or drought conditions, the maintenance and operation of watercontrol structures and the removal of illegal structures.
We also have to control water abstraction for both small scale agriculturalneeds and to large water companies topping up municipal supply reservoirs.Water levels also affect milling rights, hydropower schemes, fish spawning,nesting birds, and leisure activities such as boating, fishing and walking, etc.
Water levels can differ and, in the event of a boat running aground or strikinga submerged object, �dredging� is one of the most common measures quotedby river users; however river levels may also be a consideration. As a riverlevel is never guaranteed we recommend that river users moor their craftcarefully, allowing sufficient play in their lines and tethers to accommodatevarying water levels.
We will endeavour to inform river users if we are aware of issues affectingriver levels via our usual navigation notices and River Advice for Boaters.However, if you encounter problems whilst using the river please reportthem - you can do this any time by calling 0800 80 70 60.
Over the last couple of seasons a number of sections of the river have beenaffected by varying levels, here is an update on three we are aware of.
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The Ely Ouse and Tributaries affected by incident at Ten Mile Bank: This incident initially occurred back in March 2015 where, due to a bank
slip on the Ely Ouse at Ten Mile, we had to lower levels in the Ely Ouse,affecting mainly the tributaries, including the upper reaches of the RiversWissey, Lark, Little Ouse and Old West River with low levels. Levelswere subsequently returned to near normal; but the risk has remained thatshould conditions of the bank failure suddenly change, we may have toreduce them significantly and quickly.
We (Environment Agency) have now completed our investigations into theriver bank failure and subsequent movement of the road and a solution forpermanent repairs has been agreed with Norfolk County Council and theirHighways Department. Work is anticipated to start by the end of June andlast for around 12 weeks; completing by the end of September 2015, beforethe winter season. The road closure will be maintained by our contractor,Jackson Hyder, and will remain in place until the works are complete.Jackson Hyder is undertaking the necessary planning work to enableconstruction to commence.
We will install approximately 350 metres of steel sheet piling along the riverbank, between the edge of the road and the landward crest of the embank-ment, to stabilise the bank and we will repair and make good the road andriver bank. The proposed works shouldn�t impact on navigation, althoughthere is currently an Advisory Navigation Notice in force.
Middle Bedford Ouse Navigation: Offord to St Ives - We are work-ing with our partners in this area, including Anglian Water Services (AWS).During periods of naturally low flows we have been asking them to volun-tarily reduce their abstraction at Offord in order to protect and increase theflow in the river. This was in place, and worked well, in the latter part oflast summer, alleviating issues around the Huntingdon area where mooredboats were experiencing fluctuating river levels. We will monitor the situa-tion throughout this summer and continue to work with partners on howbest to maintain and preserve river levels and flows during drier periods.
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Castle Mills Sluice and navigation from Cardington Lock (BedfordOuse) � Incidents involving thefailure of some of the sluice gatesat Castle Mills has meantundertaking maintenance work.For a period we have receivedreports of lower than normal riverlevels between Cardington Lock
and Castle Mills Lock. The latestevent is that the gear box chain ongate number 3 of Castle Mills Sluicerecently snapped and prevented thegate from moving. The gate hasbeen dammed off upstream toremove the pressure of water onthe gate until a repair can be
completed. The lifting ropes on gate 3 failed in 2014. The ropes andturnbuckles were subsequently replaced. Investigations are ongoing todetermine if the replacement works resulted in any change in the operationof the sluice and to determine if any further works are needed. The proposalis to implement modifications, if any, at the time the gearbox chains arereplaced. Work is expected to be completed by the end of summer 2015.
The Inland Waterways Association is a non-profit distributing company limitedby guarantee. Registered in England No 612245. Registered as a charityNo 212342. Registered Office: Island House, Moor Rd, Chesham, HP5 1WA.Phone No 01494 783453.
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