Improvement work on region’s waterways is completed

The Environment Agency has completed a programme of improvements along waterways across the region.

The projects have ranged from Ditchford in Northamptonshire to Denver in Norfolk.

The agency said the improvements would improve public safety, lock resilience and surrounding habitats.

The work, which cost £5.2 million, has included upgrades at Bedford Lock on the River Great Ouse, and in Cambridgeshire at St Ives and Upware, near Ely.

The agency’s Katherine Briscombe said: “With all these improvements and the prospect of a long summer ahead, there isn’t a better time to get out on the river.”

At Bedford Lock, downstream gates have been replaced, as has the upstream landing stage, and the lock chamber wall has been stabilised.

The Environment Agency said the change would “end the disruption” that boaters faced with the old lock and would make navigation safer and smoother. A final stage of the project is planned for later in the year to improve the downstream landing stage.

At Titchmarsh Lock on the River Nene in Northamptonshire, solar panels have been installed to provide renewable energy to operate the guillotine gate.

It comes after the gate had reverted to manual operation due to its ageing components.

Elsewhere, mechanical improvements have been made to the guillotine gates at Brampton on the River Great Ouse in Cambridgeshire and at Wansford on the River Nene, near Peterborough.

The Environment Agency added that it had moved 35 unregistered boats from the region’s waterways in the past year.

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