South East User Group Meeting 18th October @ Crick, 24th October @ Agenda

• Water situation 2012

• Maintenance priorities

• Major works activity

• Vegetation works

• Volunteering

• Fundraising DROUGHT / WATER SITUATION ACROSS SOUTH EAST DURING 2012

5 Key Reservoir groups in SE:-

South Oxford GU Braunston GU Leicester GU North (Sadd.) GU South - Tring

Current status– South Oxford

96%

Mid June 80%

End March 61%

30% Current status – GU Braunston

87%

Mid June 100%

End March 61%

22% Current Status– GU Leicester line

100%

Mid June 84%

10%

End March 32% Current Status– GU North (Sadd’ton)

100% Mid June 100%

End March 42%

16% Current Status– Grand Union South

67%

End March 81%

End March 59%

29% In Summary …

South East - Reservoir Position % Holding

Start of Season End Season (week 42)

2011 2012 2011 2012

South Oxford 97 60 30 96

Grand Union Braunston 97 42 23 87

Grand Union Leicester 82 31 10 100

Grand Union North 86 60 15 100

Total Grand Union/ Oxford Hydrological 88 48 20 94 Unit

Grand Union South Hydrological Unit (Tring Group) 96.8 63 38.1 67

93% of the annual licence allocation used. 89% of the annual licence allocation used Overall lockage throughput 25 – 35% down on 2011& LTA Hillmorton more normal , but still down slightly •

Grand Union South Weekly Lockage Comparison 120

2011 2012 LTA 60 – 75% down during early/mid summer 100

Gap closed a little of late

80

60

40

Lockage counts (perweek) 20

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849505152 Week Significant water conservation work done in last 18 mths

Own Labour . ‘Priority defect’ works £900k programme - 346 defined defects to be resolved . Defects remaining include: - 60 Engineering investigations - 22 Estates notifications requiring resolution with 3rd parties - 6 stoppage related works including: - Arm Lock 4 rebuild - Refurbishment of cast iron lock gates at lock 21, Claydon - 4 contract jobs including: - Piling at Batchworth - Piling at gunpowder Wharf, Thurpp - Bankstaff works on site include - Backfilling GUS & GUN - Badger exclusion works at Yelvertoft - Leak Stopping

Major Works Activity

Projects undertaken in 2011/12 using Major Works Funding – Total value £1.2M

• Tringford Pumping Station – Development of the project outline to secure the Water Supply to the Tring Summit

• GU - Bridge 157 Toovey's Bridge – structural repair and repainting of the

structure with a 50 year design life.

• Arm Restoration –contribution to restoration.

• Weston Turville Reservoir – Works in the interest of safety to install a new auxiliary weir to the reservoir

Western Turville New Weir nearing Completion

• Oxford Bridges 79 and 80 – Working with WRG to structurally stabilise and repair to historically significant brick arch bridges.

Bridge 79 & 80, Before and during repair

• GN-002 Northampton Arm Brickwork Repairs – Major works funded project to works with the direct labour to delivery an additional £100K worth of repairs to the Northampton Arm Lock Flight in Summer Stoppage

• GL-004-014 Watford Locks 5 and 6 Grouting – sealing of leakage from the lock chambers into the side pond to be undertake in restriction outside of stoppage in late October /Early November in the late afternoon and through the night.

 18 leaves to be replaced at 11 locks . Cast Iron Gates at Lock 21 Claydon to be refurbished . Hillmorton Locks (commemorative Lock gates) . Lock wall to be rebuilt at Lock 4, Aylesbury Arm . Bywash to be rebuilt at Lock 5, Braunston . Gate relining and water conservation works at: - Northampton Arm (complete) - Buckby Flight - Foxton Locks - Calcutt Locks - Stockton Locks - Bascote Locks  For 2013 /14 - Anticipate significant fewer Lock gate replacements, based on overall condition grades - Increase in medium level gate repairs Major Works 2013-14 Proposed Spend £2.5M

• Tringford Pumping Station – phase 1 of a 2 year installation project • GUL Summit Pound Spot Dredging – Dredging between Foxton and Watford Locks • Culverts - Strategic Maintenance – Repairs to culvert in the Marsworth Pound • Oxford Bridge 34 – repairs to bridge to stabilise structure and increase weight limit. • Brownsover Arm - R.Swift Feeder – clearance of feeder to improve hydraulic capacity. • OX-095-011 Culvert 75A – Replacement of this culvert. • GU-132-030 Fenny Stratford Offside Moorings – replacement of the failed piling. • Startops Reservoir – Works to improve weirage and eliminate leakage when reservoir is brought upto Weir Level is currently held permanently 600mm below weir. • OH-001-002 Hythe Bridge Moorings – improvements to waterway wall. • Wendover Arm Restoration - Study to review the effects on the lower end towards Wendover of increasing the Water Level to meet that in the Tring Summit Dredging Strategy

Two main types - Mainline dredging - Spot dredging

Spot dredging – routine programme at ‘hot spots’ being defined e.g. winding holes, certain locks, river confluences etc.

Mainline dredging – Fwd programme being drawn up over next few months - focus on current hydrographic survey data - additional ‘conditional’ grant in 2014/2015 will increase dredging spend

Do you want to be part of a SE customer group in November/ December? Drop me a line [email protected] / Mark on the register Winter Veg Works 2012/13 Core and X19 works winter 12/13

• Core Hedge cutting- Starts end of Sept - March 1st Fender growth clearance included

• X19 Structural clearance x 1126 assets Tree works- 267 High Priority trees Reservoir works at 14 locations Reed cutting - 2700m Mink trapping x 10 rafts on the Oxford (BBOWT trapping on the Wendover) ADS (access difficult to structures)

Offside boat works.

6 boats, 6 teams. Target 11.9 kilometres

• South Oxford - Banbury south (sub contract) • North Oxford - Napton - Rugby (Fountains DL) • GU - – Stoke Bruerne (Fountains DL) • GU - Gayton – Stoke Bruerne (sub contract) • GU - Radford Section (Fountains DL) • GU - Kings Langley northwards / trouble shooting (sub contract) • GU - Wendover and Aylesbury Arms (amphibious craft trial)- Sub Contract Tree works

• 267 remaining high priority trees to make safe • Majority on the Oxford • Access difficulties (e.g railways, land owner difficulties. • Arisings stacked/chipped on site • Key medium risk trees processed following completion of this programme (2013/2014) Reed cutting

• Northampton Arm- inc some weed • Wendover Feeder • Bridge 211 South Oxford • Marsworth Reservoir • North Kilworth south – tbc following inspection.

Grass cutting

• Last cut 29th Oct. • All areas hedge to edge spec, • All T/P fender growth to be cut treated and removed on this cut. (more specialist team) • Start of next years cut (1 of 11) to commence March 2013. • All grass cutting machinery sent for winter servicing November 12.

Volunteering

Volunteering in the South East Region

2012 Overview

New Volunteering Strategy established in 2012 Aims:

• To increase connectivity between CRT and existing volunteer groups • To ensure that CRT employees and volunteers share skills and knowledge • To recognise and support existing volunteer projects • To encourage new volunteers to engage with CRT • To engender a sense of volunteer ‘ownership’ within the waterways (such as through the Adoption scheme) • To publicise and celebrate volunteers’ successes New Volunteer Team

Introducing:

John Highmore (Volunteer Coordinator) [email protected]

Miriam Tedder (Voluntunteer Leader) [email protected] Volunteer Projects – GUN

• Blisworth Canal Society – Refurbishment of historic hut for use as an education centre • Braunston Canal Society – Pending adoption of the area; regular maintenance of locks and towpath • BTCV – Hedge-laying at Watford Locks • Canal Society – Vegetation clearance with corporate volunteers & ongoing restoration work • OUCS – Towpath restoration and bench replacement in Foxton heritage area

Volunteer Projects – GUS

• Aylesbury Town Council – Bridge painting at the Aylesbury Basin on well-used pedestrian thoroughfare • Croxley Green Residents’ Association – Establishment of a new walking route with appropriate signage • Milton Keynes IWA – Annual clean-up between MK and Leighton Buzzard • Rickmansworth Canal Society – Educational programmes (‘Learning at the Lock’) and a pending adoption • Wendover Arm Trust – Ongoing work to rebuild and restore the Wendover Arm Canal in its entirety

Volunteer Projects – Oxford Canal

• Fenny Compton Brick Kiln Preservation Trust – Restoration of an historic brick kiln adjacent to the towpath • Rugby Rotary Club – Lock painting and litter picking at Hillmorton • Thrupp Canal Cruisers – Repair of a water-point; trial of Mooring Rangers scheme • WRG – Brickwork on two bridges near Barby (in conjunction with contractors)

Moving forward with Volunteering

Upcoming focus :

• ‘Towpath Taskforce’ – Regular volunteer activity days organised by CRT in selected areas • Adoptions – Active volunteer groups to be encouraged to formally adopt a stretch of canal for an annually planned programme of approved maintenance • Increased website input – Wider publicity for volunteer activities, events and successes

Any questions drop John or Miriam a line …… john.highmore or [email protected] Enforcement

Indicative evasion rates per waterway as at 10.10.2012

NW YK P&P NW&B CS EM SW&S WM SE K&A LO Indicative % evasion as at 10 Oct 2012 8900 9000 9100 9200 9300 9400 9500 9600 9700 9800 9900 Licence Enforcement Cases 127 99 79 108 134 58 90 66 110 98 154 1123 Boats sighted during March full check 2870 2268 1489 2639 3417 1651 1939 1645 5984 1787 2326 28015

Indicative Evasion Rate 4.4% 4.4% 5.3% 4.1% 3.9% 3.5% 4.6% 4.0% 1.8% 5.5% 6.6% 4.0% Enforcement

The number of enforcement cases, per waterway, broken down into the type of enforcement action being taken.

NW YK P&P NW&B CS EM SW&S WM SE K&A LO Enf Cases as at 10 Oct 2012 8900 9000 9100 9200 9300 9400 9500 9600 9700 9800 9900 Continuous Cruiser 51 16 47 30 82 24 30 37 267 58 67 709 Enforcement Licence Enforcement 127 99 79 108 134 58 90 66 110 98 154 1123

Mooring Enforcement 11 10 19 33 21 12 24 24 32 21 69 276

Other Enforcement Issue 7 2 4 9 12 8 18 3 18 6 19 106

Overstayer Enforcement 15 11 5 8 3 8 3 1 4 45 103

Grand Total 211 138 154 180 257 105 170 133 428 187 354 2317 Fundraising

• Over 1400 friends signed up - 3000 target by end of f/year • Over £11,00 donated to the Trent & Mersey breach • South East ‘launch’ appeals - Fenny Compton butterfly habitiat - GU Leicester Line coir roll (vole habitat) (Debdale – Kilby Bridge SSSI) - Marsworth flight side ponds - Iron Trunk aqueduct viewing platform

http://canalrivertrust.org.uk/get-involved/appeals Thankyou

Any questions ?

www.canalrivertrust.org.uk/noticeboards/south-east-waterways