West Oxfordshire District Council has spoken out against the Environment Agency’s plans to remove live-in lock-keepers
The West Oxfordshire District Council has agreed a motion calling for resident lock-keepers to be kept in place, particularly in remote areas along the River Thames in West Oxfordshire.
The Environment Agency (EA) is currently consulting on whether to remove live-in lock-keepers along the Thames as part of its latest cost-saving measures.
At a meeting of the Full Council on 14 May, members discussed the role of residential lock-keepers and agreed that a message should be sent to the EA setting out the Council was against their removal.
The motion proposed by Cllr. Steve Good was as follows:
“This Council believes resident lock keepers play an important role in the life of and safety on the River Thames and calls upon the Environment Agency to retain the present system of lock keepers, in particular along the remote stretch of the river Thames which forms the southern boundary of our district.”
