Several locks on the non-tidal Thames will be closed this winter as part of £1m of maintenance works by the Environment Agency
Eight locks on the non-tidal Thames will undergo maintenance work this winter, with many of them having to be closed for months, the Environment Agency has warned.
The £1m programme of Thames lock works will start in November and run into March 2016, with works including re-sheeting of lock gates, refurbishing of lock chambers and minor repairs.
Related news:
Thames pump-out stations spared the axe as EA looks to cut costs
Barrie Douglass, the Environment Agency’s Waterways Engineer for the River Thames, said: “Maintaining critical navigation assets in safe working order is our number one priority.
“It has to be, because if we allow them to fall into disrepair and become unfit for use, then boating on the Thames as we’ve known it for the last hundred years or so would just not be possible.”
He added that the funds for the Thames lock work will be drawn from boater registration fees, as well as a top-up from the Government.
The Environment Agency manages all 45 locks on the non-tidal Thames (Cricklade to Teddington) and is responsible for 135 miles of navigable waterways.
The full schedule of winter lock works on the non-tidal Thames is as follows:
02/11/15 – 04/03/16
- St John’s Lock, Oxfordshire: Re-sheeting the head and repairing the tail lock gates
- Godstow Lock, Oxfordshire: Re-sheeting the lock gates
- Culham Lock, Oxfordshire: Refurbishing the lock chamber
02/11/15 – 26/02/16
- Temple Lock, Buckinghamshire: Refurbishing the lock chamber
02/11/15 – 18/12/15
- Cookham Lock, Berkshire: Replacing lock gate control system
- Boulters Lock, Berkshire: Re-sheeting the tail lock gates
02/01/16 – 26/02/16
- Day’s Lock, Oxfordshire: Minor repairs to the lock chamber
11/02/16 – 04/03/16
- Penton Hook Lock, Middlesex: Repairing the tail lock gates pintle
