River Medway news from Mike Marsh

Environment Agency News….

Allington Lock – A landing stage lower wall on the opposite side of lock is being constructed with an electric hookup point being installed. This will help boaters waiting to enter the lock. The car park has been resurfaced.

Enforcement – Registration compliance checks have been completed this summer. Non-registered boats are issued with new yellow enforcement stickers, affixed to the vessel. These are weather resistant and have been very effective. There is now an 82% compliance rate, rising each day. 63 boats have registered since carrying out the compliance checks, with 112 to go. There have been 16 boat seizure notices issued with the first boat to be removed from mooring in midSeptember. Compliance rates are 7% higher this year in comparison to 2022.

Recruitment – EA advised that it is increasing the River management team and also recruiting four apprentices to train-up.

Dredging – Continuing problems with the EA barge bucket crane have affected the 2023 dredging programme. It is hoped to have it operation al as soon as possible.

CCTV – EA now has an increased budget for security CCTV to be installed at Teston Lock and Town Lock in Tonbridge. This will be welcome in the continued fight against anti-social behaviour.

Incidents – These were reported at East Farleigh lock this summer . Speeding RHIBs are on the increase.

Oil spillage – This was from Hampstead Marina and was investigated by EA environmental teams. The oil had spread so much there was little they could effectively do. A Notice to Mariners was issued warning boaters. EA are still looking into this to see how the spillage occurred.

Asian Hornets….

Medway Valley Countryside Partnership is asking members of public to look out for and report sightings of this invasive species which can destroy whole bee colonies. The phone app “Asian Hornet Watch” is designed to help report and record sightings….

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.ac.ceh.hornets&hl=en_GB https://www.maidstoneriverfestival.com

Maidstone River Festival….

This year’s Festival was held on Saturday 29th July and was very successful with over 100 boats attending on a very sunny July day.

IWAKES Committee members

Malcolm Hasler, Mike Marsh, Roy Sutton and Peter Wilkinson set up a stand at the Festival and engaged with the public, handing out IWA literature to them and to F estival boaters.

Kentish River Stour news from Malcolm Hasler

A continuing quiet season on the Kentish Stour as an unusual season, weather wise, passed us by. Weeks of sweltering temperatures with little to no rain, exceptionall y high tides due to the “Blue Moon”, followed by extremely low tidal waters accompanied by periods of drought causing the river to be low. Navigating the river was challenging at times!

Several successful trips and events were planned by the Grove Ferry Boat Club, culminating in the Summer Party, held on a day with gale force winds and severe weather warnings in place. Despite challenging conditions, the event passed safely with the tents and marquees remaining mostly intact.

Grove Ferry Bridge – This has been seriously weakened over the years, resulting in weight restrictions being imposed . It was inevitable that Kent County Council would look at some form of repair or replacement eventually.

The biggest news of the summer was the arrival, on many peopl e’s doorsteps, of letters sent out by AECOM (Architecture, Engineering, Construction, Operations, and Management) Consultants on behalf of the KCC, announcing a consultation period in respect to the Grove Ferry Bridge. These were sent out by various Engagement Consultants from AECOM to all stakeholders and local residents, local landowners, local businesses and the Grove Ferry Boat Club, to mention a few. They basically announced an initial “views and fact seeking” period of consultation in advance of the full public consultation planned for early 2024. The Stour Downstream Interests Group , set up to represent those with connections to the downstream Kentish River Stour, are “on the case” guided by Mary Newing,

Local individual meetings were held on the 28th July 2023, with Mary Newing, myself representing the IWA, and directly affected businesses. These meetings became fact finding missions by AECOM on behalf of the KCC, and were led by Paul Boughen, Principal Consultant Stakeholder Engagement. We now await the promised notes and minutes from the various meetings, as AECOM went away to consolidate their thoughts and report back to the KCC.

All stakeholders and interested parties now wait for the initial feedback, from the Consultants and the KCC, on the initial consultation meetings held in July 2023. I am sure that I will be reporting further on this matter in the months to come.

I thank Chris Riddell for the following list of factors that should be considered during the Public Consultation and complied with by any subsequent works….

1. Common Law Public Rights of Navigation which exist prima facia in tidal waters (Halsbury’s Laws of England, 5th. Edition, para 691 and the National Association of Boat Owners Guidance Note, Public Rights of Navigation, pp 4 and 5).

2. It must be ensured that the bridge design does not obstruct the Public Right of Navigation – there must be sufficient width and air draught under the structure for boats to navigate the waterway at all states of the tide. The fact that this may not exist currently is not relevant.

3. Navigation should only be closed when absolutely essential, and then only for the shortest durations possible.

4. Under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009, any major bridge works over a tidal river requires a licence from the Marine Management Organisation.

That’s it for now. Hope that you have a great late season’s cruising on the water. Enjoy your “laying up suppers”, and remember, the best way to winterise your boat is to use it! I am on email at Malcolm.Hasler@waterways.org.uk

Future IWAKES and Other Events

Thursday 9th November 2023: 7.30 for 8.00pm: Strood Yacht Club, Knight Road, Strood. ME2 2AH: “IWA Kent & East Sussex Waterways”

Roy Sutton will show 45-year-old photographs of IWAKES Branch ’s waterways. These include commercial traffic on Dartford and Crayford Creeks and the Medway.

Thursday 29th February 2024: 7.30 for 8.00pm: Room 2, Christ Church URC, High Street, Tonbridge TN9 1SG: “IWAKES Annual General Meeting” . To be followed by a “Quiz”.

Tea and coffee are available at all IWAKES evening meetings. Entry is free with a raffle to cover costs.

All IWAKES events are open to non-members and you are encouraged to invite friends to meetings.

Similarly, if you know a local club or society might be interested, please tell them.

Oxfordshire Branch

This hasn’t been a summer in which we have suffered water shortages on the waterways in our branch, which is great, but that was due to the steadily poor weather we have had throughout much of the summer which has certainly significantly reduced the number of people out boating or otherwise enjoying the waterways where I am. I hope it hasn’t spoiled your summer.

The one really great event I did get to, all be it in very mixed weather, was the Thames Traditional Boat Show at Henley . An amazing spectacle of traditional and traditional style boats of all types. Well worth a visit in late July if you haven’t been before to see narrow boats, river cruisers, steam and electric launches, skiffs and much more besides.

Between writing this article and it being published the branch will have had a stand at the Banbury Canal Festival, I hope we had an opportunity to meet and for me to twist your arm to help out manning the stand next year. I will try and include more on the event in the next issue.

Ian Lyndsay, Oxford Branch Chair

Tooley’s Boatyard Trust

Tooley’s have brought out an app that keeps all your boat details in one place. It also includes tips on maintenance, handling etc. Why not try it for free.

Throughout the warmer months of the year we run boat trips on Dancing Duck from Tooley’s Boatyard on Saturdays (approx. 40 mins). All tours are run by qualified helmsman and crew.

https://tooleysboatyardtrust.org.uk/boat-trips/ .

Wilts & Berks Canal Trust

My last article focused on the strengthening of our administrative and planning functions, and the small matter of the Coronation. The former process continues, with the appointment of a volunteer Marketing Director and the setting up of an Engagement Task Force. This group has developed a strategy for community engagement, getting our message “out there” with the aim of increasing awareness in our local population, particularly the movers and shakers, in Local Authorities, businesses and schools. A secondary aim is to increase our membership, to give us better financial stability in view of the marked fall in grant funding this year. Meanwhile, our three trip boats have been in action during the summer, not only bringing in much-needed funds but probably more importantly giving large numbers of people – several hundred - the experience of being on the water. Some of these have joined us as crew or skippers. Thanks to the generosity of one of our members, we have made a small but significant land purchase near Wantage. The section of canal there had been bisected by a farm track crossing it; the landowner was not only happy to make the sale but actually removed the crossing, dug out the canal and restored the towpath! The adjacent piece of land, or part of it, will be useful to the Trust in terms of allowing space for a compound etc given the necessary permissions.

As summer activities die away, we are beginning preparations for our Santa trips in December – always very popular!

Chris Barry Comms Secretary, Wilts & Berks Canal Trust

Santa 2023

We are planning to run Santa trips again this year, based on the “Dragonfly Experiences” we have been doing so far. Trips will run every weekend from Saturday December 2nd until Sunday December 17th and then every day from Wednesday December 20th, up to and including Saturday December 23rd .

Trip times will be 10.30 am, 11.15 am, 12:00 noon, 1.30 pm, 2.15 and 3 pm.

Fares will be unchanged at £12 for children, £6 for adults. Children aged 1 and under go free. For those not familiar with what we do, Dragonfly goes to find Santa; he gets on the boat and gives each child their own personal present; Santa knows who's been before, too!

Bookings open on Monday October 2nd - to book, please email 2santa@wbct.org.uk or ring 07401 220076. Payment must be made at least two weeks before your trip to confirm the booking. ALL TRIPS MUST BE PRE-BOOKED