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THAMES LOCKKEEPERS UNDER THREAT


The Lockie

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May I bring to your attention as fellow boaters, the decision by the Environment Agency to dispose of 22 Lock Houses along the River Thames. The Agency intends to do this by either selling certain houses off or renting some out.

 

This action will have a devastating effect on the River and, despite the Environment Agency's attempts to minimise the risk in its media releases, it will lead to a loss of service not just to the boating public but to everyone who uses and cares about the River Thames.

 

Thames lockkeepers do not have nice cottages by the river just because they lock boats through. They are there because there is a clearly defined need for them, Lockkeepers are also weirkeepers, in this role they are responsible for controlling river levels and for reacting promptly to the needs of the river, prompt attention to the weirs in times of rain or drought is essential. the Environment Agency is yet to demonstrate how this crucial aspect of the lockkeepers work can be efficiently handled if there is no lockkeeper on site. They are also the first port of call for emergencies out of hours, and rightly so.

 

May I ask you to look at the links below and to lend your support. One only has to look at how the canal system has suffered since BW sold their housing stock off to realise what will hapen on the Thames if this is allowed to go ahead.

 

 

 

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Thames-Locks/

 

www.saveourservice.org

 

 

Thank you

Edited by The Lockie
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Its a shame, to me the resident lock keepers are a major part of the vibe of the river but this has been expected for many years, at least a decade, it was just a matter of time. Defra, modern communication and the ¤current¤ value of property have finally come together to make the decision to sell. Its one of those things that was bound to happen eventually.

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Its a shame, to me the resident lock keepers are a major part of the vibe of the river but this has been expected for many years, at least a decade, it was just a matter of time. Defra, modern communication and the ¤current¤ value of property have finally come together to make the decision to sell. Its one of those things that was bound to happen eventually.

Yes, no point hanging on to our heritage, if it'll turn a dollar!

 

Signed!

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Its a shame, to me the resident lock keepers are a major part of the vibe of the river but this has been expected for many years, at least a decade, it was just a matter of time. Defra, modern communication and the ¤current¤ value of property have finally come together to make the decision to sell. Its one of those things that was bound to happen eventually.

 

Are you saying money is paramount? Surely nothing could ever replace the national security we get from these lock keepers. Who is binding these things into happening?

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Signed.

 

Is it just me or do others feel a sense of loss and sadness over the way in which these days every single organisation or institution has to justify its existence by showing that it is profitable? If it's not a viable business then it goes to the wall and that includes public services. Another example is the Post Office. When I hear about PO closures in reports which cite a lack of economic viability, I often wonder how they managed to thrive in past decades, during supposedly less affluent times? Was it because in the past it seemed reasonable to run subsidised services for the public, before everyone was forced to sign up to the new business religion?

Edited by blackrose
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Its modern communication thats done it. Ok, a weir needs attending to, we're in the 21st century. Would it be better to have say 3 people on call one of whom can come and do it or a lock keeper living in one of the most expensive houses around who may have had a glass of wine with dinner so you may have to get your on-call person out anyway. I don't agree with it but i can understand it.

 

.. I want the Thames Conservancy house at Wallingford, just downstream from the former Maid Boats yard :D

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signed, as i am moored on the thames, and the lock keepers are pretty helpful for such novices like me. And I like to see activity around the locks - there is a new display up at Kings Lock, they recently celebrated 80 years .. I wonder if this is one of the lock houses that will be sold off.

 

edited to add some other stuff.

Edited by grahoom
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Is this not a technology issue? Could it be that remote monitoring of river levels, remote operation of weirs and a centralised control system have removed the need to have staff permanently onsite?

 

I came through Sunbury Lock last week and there was no lockkeeper about so I operated the lock myself. Not very difficult now that it is all powered and pushbuttoned.

 

People are expensive and very difficult to manage. This is the age of automation.

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Its modern communication thats done it. Ok, a weir needs attending to, we're in the 21st century. Would it be better to have say 3 people on call one of whom can come and do it or a lock keeper living in one of the most expensive houses around who may have had a glass of wine with dinner so you may have to get your on-call person out anyway. I don't agree with it but i can understand it.

 

.. I want the Thames Conservancy house at Wallingford, just downstream from the former Maid Boats yard :D

There is no need to sell off our heritage, because it is redundant.

 

Things tend to achieve historical significance because they are history, not necessarily because they are still useful.

 

Should we sell off the castles and stately homes to the highest bidder, because a modern Barratts house is a more practical domicile?

 

These things belong to the nation, not the richest person to put a barrier between us, and what was ours.

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Is this not a technology issue? Could it be that remote monitoring of river levels, remote operation of weirs and a centralised control system have removed the need to have staff permanently onsite?

 

I came through Sunbury Lock last week and there was no lockkeeper about so I operated the lock myself. Not very difficult now that it is all powered and pushbuttoned.

 

People are expensive and very difficult to manage. This is the age of automation.

 

 

People are expensive, but considering that the waterways are also deemed a tourist hot-spot (well when the weather is good there are a lot of people walking around the locks etc) I'd consider a lock keeper to be quite a valuable asset for tourism. Not only to help man the lock, and look after the area, but as an information source.

 

But then I guess we could have automatons that did this..... robo-lockie...

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Just typical of an organisation run by Committee

 

The value of these 'assets' have probably decreased 40% since last year when they probably planned to sell them.

 

By the time approval is given the value has decreased dramatically.

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No apologies for "bumping" this post back to the top

 

Also announced to-day on narrowboat world is that BW are now considering disposing of ALL of it's property portfolio, seems like the boater is under attack from the very organisations that are supposed to look after our intrests!!!

 

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE look at the links in the 1st post and then fill in the on-line petition and write to your local MP to get them involved in the EDM AND write to the waterways minister (Hilary Benn) all the links are also on the "saveourservice" website

 

Thank You

Edited by The Lockie
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Thamks to all who have signed so far thats up from 155 to 345 signatures in 24 hours.

 

To those who have yet to sign don't hesitate there will be plenty of time to regret the loss IF we allow it to happen :D

 

Heres those links again

 

saveourservice.org

 

on-line petition to the PM to save the Thames lockhouses

Edited by The Lockie
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Quite apart form the heritage value and the ethics of evicting long-standing residents from homes, even if there is some automation, remote monitoring etc, the lock keepers are on the spot for emergencies, even off duty. Last summer I imagine that access for crews based further away would have been cut off by the floods. I don't imagine the new owner of a lock cottage would be quite as willing or able to react quickly then spend several days flood-fighting and helping stranded boaters. And when the EA then gets sued by them for poor emergency management leading to damage to property......

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Signed with pleasure,

 

All the lock keepers we came across the 3 days we were on the thames from brentford to the K and A this last week, were brill and very helpful to us.

 

Long may they stay...

 

Mrs P

Edited by Mrs Panda
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  • 1 month later...

The disposal of ten of the EA's 57 Thames lock-houses and the leasing out of a further twelve houses has been a saga of piss poor assessment, planning and communication. Furthermore, Adrian Stott's woeful defense of the EA in the July edition of Waterways World was printed in the same edition as indications from the EA themselves that they were unable to assure the economic benefits to a cross-party group of MPs.

 

The EA sell-off does not make sense because there are good safety reasons why lock-keepers should live 'above the shop' or at least near it. Theirs is a vital role and even if a physical presence at the lock makes a difference just once in a decade, it would be worth many times the rather paltry savings proposed. Indeed, there are good reasons for proposing that it should be mandatory for lock-keepers to live on-site or within a few hundred metres.

 

The EA tell us that we will be able to rely on remote monitoring and technological advances. Yet barely a year ago, it was the failure of precisely these kinds of remote technologies that contributed significantly to the disastrous floods. It is actually technically feasible for most people to work at home, sitting in their pyjamas watching over a webcam: air traffic controllers, surgeons, policemen and many others. However, despite the potential huge savings, it is considered an unacceptable risk for many reasons for most professions. It must be remembered that the lock-keepers do not simply wave punters in their Dawncraft Dandys cheerily through the lock; they act as eyes and ears on the river and can undertake a multitude of essential tasks in times of emergency or disaster. But to do that, the lock-keepers need to be present and know what is going on with the river.

 

While the EA might argue that in the event of abnormal weather events, their lock-keepers would always be at the lock, regardless of where they live. With the remote location of many river locks and poor road access to others, it would be impractical to station a lock-keeper at a lock possibly for days on end - unless the lock-keepers house was usable. Someone who lives away from the river only sees it in the daylight and during working hours, and the innate nuanced knowledge of a resident would disappear quickly. While most of the houses planned for disposal or lease are not actually at the lock, they are all extremely close by: without a stake in the market, it is rather inevitable that over time, lock-keepers will need to move further and further away and it is unlikely that either the EA or their lock-keepers will be able to afford riverside properties in the future.

 

The recently released Pitt Review of the 2007 Summer Floods provides a detailed assessment of what happened last year. The failure of technology is a recurrent theme, starting on 23rd June 2007 when Ingham rainfall radar station in Lincolnshire was struck by lightning - it should have provided the rainfall radar information for the whole of the North and North East England. During June and July, there were problems in half of all EA regions, with many river gauges swept away, others destroyed by floodwaters and yet more inaccessible by rising waters. In the Thames region, almost 1 in every 20 remote telemetry stations failed, and the Regional Telemetry System partially failed on the 21st and 25th July and could not provide critical data. 23% of all inundated properties in the Thames region received no warning at all. Yet a year later, the EA is trumpeting technology as an acceptable alternative.

 

Equally worrying is that the sell-off and leasing of these houses was based upon an efficiency review, yet months later the agency are still unable to identify the scale of the savings nor even whether there would be any savings at all.

 

NOTE: Before jumping on any well-intentioned bandwagons or hobby-horses about cultural heritage, please note that almost none of these lock-keepers houses are lockside houses: they are mainly ordinary houses in nearby streets.

Edited by stort_mark
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NOTE: Before jumping on any well-intentioned bandwagons or hobby-horses about cultural heritage, please note that almost none of these lock-keepers houses are lockside houses: they are mainly ordinary houses in nearby streets.

 

from what I can find on the internet the original plan involved selling or renting out 22 lock houses. 7 of these were on the lockside and the primary lock house and home to the resident lock keeper. 7 out of 22 is very slightly less than 1 in 3. that is not 'almost none'.

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I asked my MP, Mr Charles Hendry (Wealden) to look into the sale of EA Lock cottages on the Thames. Here is the text of the reply from the EA, if anybody is interested :-

Dear Mr Hendry

 

Thank you for your letter of the 23 June about our plans for lock houses on the Thames.

 

 

 

As much of our funding comes from government we need to operate the river as efficiently as we can. We have not modernised this aspect of our work for a very long time and, as part of our ongoing review into the management of the River Thames, we have considered whether we need all 57 lock houses. Every house has been assessed individually to decide whether it is required on operational grounds. As a result, we have identified 22 houses that could be sold or rented without impacting on flood risk or our service.

 

 

 

In the past financial year we have spent £6.5 million on improvements along the Thames to increase the enjoyment of river users, more than ever before. We are preparing for our long­term future investment in the waterway, and the lock house review forms part of this.

 

 

 

Our decision will have no adverse impact on flood risk. Lock-keepers are part of a team including Flood Warning, Flood Risk Management and Operations Delivery staff, 400 in total. Flood Warning officers monitor conditions around the clock and work with Waterways staff to ensure the right response to changes in flows and levels.

 

 

 

There are some misconceptions about the urgency of need to operate weirs when rises in levels are predicted. Even after extreme rainfall most of the weir work can be (and is) carried out during the working day and on the Thames there is very rarely a need for immediate reaction, more a measured response. It is certainly not the case that a half-hour delay would lead to a "catastrophe". River levels are managed by a team of staff including lock-keepers, Waterway Duty Officers and Flood Forecasting Duty Officers. The latter work in close cooperation with the Meteorological Office and others within the Environment Agency as necessary.

 

 

 

However, following a meeting with the Minister Phil Woolas and MPs Martin Salter and Theresa May, we have agreed to put on hold any changes proposed by the lock house review until we have completed our full review of Waterways staff roles, responsibilities, terms and conditions.

 

 

 

We will take no action towards the sale or rental of lock houses until these negotiations on the full review are completed. We anticipate that this will take six months but this guarantee will continue until all negotiations are completed or 1 January, 2009, which ever is latest. We will then review the position on lock houses with lock-keepers and their representatives and with MPs.

 

 

 

I trust that you and your constituents are reassured that we are properly considering these matters.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Robert Runcie

 

Director, Thames Region

Edited by jelunga
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