Yorkshire & North East Virtual User Forum
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Welcome Yorkshire & North East Virtual User Forum 12th January 5.00 6.30pm Agenda • Welcome Eve Boocock, Boating and Customer Service Manager • Regional Overview Sean McGinley, Regional Director • Operational Update Steve Smith, Regional Operations Manager • Dredge & Veg update Stuart Moodie, Heritage & Environment Manager • Engineering Update Samantha Colley, Principal Engineer • Boating Update Matthew Symonds, National Boating Manager • Volunteering Update Peter McCabe, Community Engagement Manager • Questions Meeting rules • Please ensure that you remain on mute during presentations and whilst other people are talking. • Use the chat features to participate in asking questions through the presentations. • If possible please have your video on • Ensure mobile phones are on silent • Sean McGinley Regional Director Introduction • Welcome and a Happy New Year • COVID19 update • A&C Breach • Harthill Reservoir COVID 19 • In these challenging times our aim is to support the national effort and to keep everyone safe and to make sure that everyone has the opportunity to visit our waterways as it helps with their wellbeing • Please note that as of 4 January 2021 and the re-introduction of lockdown, all navigation in England and Wales should be limited to essential use only. Boaters who are not currently occupying their boat should not take overnight breaks on their boat during the lockdown. • Those living aboard are advised to limit their navigation, moving only a minimal amount to access essential facilities or services when necessary. • Boat licence terms & conditions regarding moving every 14 days will be suspended until the restrictions come to an end. • Our towpaths remain open for people to enjoy whilst ensuring that they follow advice around social distancing at all times, keeping their distance from both other people and moored boats. Serious issues should be reported to the police. Breach on the A&C The breach occurred in the early hours of Sunday 20th December. Flooding of farmland up to the M62 occurred Breach on the A&C • With the assistance of other agencies, our contractor Keir and a helicopter, we made the site safe by Wednesday 23rd December, placing several hundred tonnes of stone and clay in the hole. • We continued to inspect the site twice a day across the holidays and placed more stone and clay on the 28th December. • Some water is still being lost but this is being removed by the IDB pumping station and so the situation is stable. Breach on the A&C • The immediate challenge is to manage water levels in the 16km pound and to provide as much water as we can to Goole dock across the caisson which was closed to protect the dock. • The next step is to construct a cofferdam two rows of piles - across the canal either side of the breach site. We can then drain this section, get a close look, and work out what went wrong. • Whilst the cofferdam is in place we will over pump or flume water from one side to the other to maintain water levels on both sides. Breach on the A&C • The design of the cofferdam is complete and we are now mobilising with the intention of installing the piles later this month. • Depending on what is found when the cofferdam is drained, we will design a permanent repair and then implement it. • Difficult to say how long the navigation will be closed without knowing what the problem is but it will probably be closed for a few months. Harthill Reservoir A detailed reservoir inspection in May 2020 found the reservoir to be safe, but in need of some improvement works and so we plan to give the reservoir a £5 million upgrade to improve its resilience. This year the project team will be Harthill working through feasibility and Reservoir optioneering phases, which will include a range of ground investigation and topographical studies, as well as heritage and ecological assessments to inform designs. Works will begin in 2022 and will involve redesigning the overflow spillway and exploring opportunities for further operational improvement works to the reservoir. Project completion is expected in early 2023 During the investigations and construction works, water levels in the reservoir will be kept lower than normal and this may have an impact on the amount of water delivered to the canal Questions? Steven Smith Regional Operations Manager February flooding from Storm Ciara and Storm Dennis in consecutive weekends. March a pandemic strikes and we have a national lockdown to navigate through. July to October Aire & Calder breach at Newbridge on 20th December 2020. Storms Ciara & Dennis Estimated £4.5m of damage to the regional infrastructure over the course of 2 weekends. - Secured a proportion of this funding required for repairs. - Engaged MPs and councils in affected areas. - Key member of the Calderdale Resilience Forum. - Delays to the repairs programme as a result of national lockdown. Figure of Three Locks destruction was the tip of the iceberg. Storms Ciara & Dennis Park Nook lock (Calder & Hebble) Woodside Mills (Calder & Hebble) Brookfoot lock (Calder & Hebble) Storms Ciara & Dennis Horbury (Calder & Hebble) Anchor Pit (Calder & Hebble) Golcar Brook (HNC) Storms Ciara & Dennis Cinderhills (Rochdale canal) White Lee Culvert (Rochdale canal) Holmcoat Road (Rochdale canal) National lockdown Essential safety critical works only for a 3-month period. - Water control. Huge increase in number of towpath users. - How can we keep our team safe? Furlough represented an opportunity to protect the financial future of the Trust. - Coincided with a long, hot, dry spell of weather that impacted water resources, particularly on the Leeds- Liverpool canal. Latest Position on Angling and COVID-19 • Angling is a permitted activity during the third national lockdown in England. • The Department for Digital, Media, Culture, and Sport (DCMS) confirmed the following: — “fishing is allowed as exercise so long as participants adhere to the rules on staying local, gathering limits, social distancing and limiting the time spent outdoors” • This has also been confirmed by DEFRA: — “Cabinet Office have now officially confirmed that angling / fishing can be considered exercise and are hence permitted.” • If you don't have anywhere local to fish, you must take your daily exercise in a different way. Return to the waterways 3-months lost, minimal progress on flood repairs and now peak season for customer service side of role. Sluice repairs across Aire & Calder, Calder & Hebble, and South Yorkshire Navigations, Leeds-Liverpool. Increased rates of lock gate failures through degradation and misuse. Misterton, Stret, Bank Newton, Bingley 5-rise. Understand why failures have occurred so we can absorb the learning. Standedge Tunnel operation in world of social distancing. Revised operating model needed. A different experience to usual. Frequent positive COVID cases and self-isolation periods impacting resource levels throughout. Water resource challenges. - Leeds-Liverpool - Chesterfield - Huddersfield Narrow? Maintained COVID restrictions for a period? Further growth of volunteering opportunities. - Rangers. - Water control. - Reservoir monitoring. Stuart Moodie Heritage & Environment Manager Dredging and Vegetation management update Dredging update • Program for 2020-21 — Chesterfield Br 54-66 due to start Jan 2021 — A&C Navigation freight dredging five locations dredged in 2020, further works planned for 2021 — Y&NE spot dredging works completed to dat: SSYN; River Ouse, Goole; A&CN Beal Lock; Bank Dole Lock. — Dredging resulting from flooding, Rochdale and Calder and Hebble - complete — HNC arising dredging complete. Dredging update • Provisional program for 2021-24 — 2021-22: Y&NE spot dredging, — 2022-23: Leeds Liverpool — 2023-24: Chesterfield, Br 31-53 Vegetation management update • Program of routine maintenance of vegetation including: — Towpath and embankment mowing — Reservoir works — High priority trees — Aquatic weed — Non-native invasive species, terrestrial and aquatic Yorkshire & North East Region Priority Works Programme 2021/22 Samantha Colley Regional PW funding 2021 Allocation of PW funding 2021 Total Spend £16.5M 1.3M,8% 1.6M,9% 1.9M,11% YNE Allocation - £2.5m 2.5M,16% 5.1M,31% 4.1M,25% EM YNE NW WM LSE WSW Priority Works Plan Engineering Review • Notifications are reviewed by the engineers and ranked against a severity and urgency criteria to determine the plan • Include lower ranked notifications into stoppage locations to create a one stop approach Specific works requested by Others Identify leakage and areas where water conservation is required Pocklington, Huddersfield Narrow, Leeds and Liverpool, Rochdale and Chesterfield Canals • Move specific locks back in the plan as a one stop approach to create efficiencies • Proactive Access Improvements, mainly for Inspections. • Enterprise coordination with funders on Tees Navigation, Rochdale Canal towpath bids, Pocklington Restoration • Collaborating with Priority Projects eg Dowley Gap, leakage stopping. • Timing of both Intermediate & Permanent Repairs to Bingley 5 Rise gates. Priority Works B21 Plan Headline Summary B21 Summary of the headline figures Overall numbers of zx notifications:- 197 Total No. of Packages 113 No. of stoppage Packages gate replacements 15 No. of stoppage Packages gate re-line or water conservation related 7 No of other stoppage Packages 8 No of HPW Packages 93 Achieved following numerous iterations with all key stakeholders Priority Works Themes The main headline theme is one of Conservation As this looks to alleviate the challenges