Kennet MP sacked from DEFRA waterways ministerial post.

A Government reshuffle has today seen Newbury MP Richard Benyon removed from the post of Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), where his remit included responsibility for inland waterways.

Despite the surprise departure of LibDem Scotland Secretary Michael Moore less than a year before the referendum on Scottish independence, the sacking of Mr Benyon is not thought to be a result of his failure to progress DEFRAs  consideration that English and Welsh constituents may enjoy a legal Public Right of Navigation (PRON) which would place them on par with the electorate in Scotland. 

As environmental gaffes and apparent support to vested countryside landowning interests (you may remember something about buzzards, carbofuran, quarrying, ragwort, sea fish (he was the Fisheries Minister too), and Walshaw Moor) have previously seemed to be insufficient reason to remove David Cameron's cousin's riparian Kennet riverside neighbour from office, you might wonder why now (badgers might have been the final straw), or if this presages a genuine change in the Government's approach to its citizens.

Let's briefly give George Eustace, who is Richard Benyon's replacement, the benefit of the doubt accorded to a relatively unknown player in the access debate, and trust that he will be supporting the wider populace rather than the anachronistic few.  Don't hold your breath though, as the status quo elitist position of access denial remains a dominant theme in our political society, and will deserve further rebuttal if the new man proves to be a conservative clone.

The good news with regard to canoeing and kayaking on the River Kennet is that during Mr Benyon's time in office there was no meaningful challenge to the idea of a PRON, and the Benyon's Estate were forced to admit that "the entire stretch is fully navigable by water craft".  You might want to consider this statement if you've read this relatively recent and unusually limited thread from the Reading and District Angling Association.

Happy paddling!

UPDATE

George Eustace may not be the Minister of primary interest to paddlers after all.  Another Cornwall MP, Dan Rogerson, has also been appointed to DEFRA, and the division of the portfolio is as yet unclear.  The Countryside Alliance has reported that "George Eustace will be taking on the farming & animals brief, Dan Rogerson water, forests & climate".  Where responsibility for inland waterways and access will sit is as yet unclear. 

Northcroft Stream blocked by FAS works

The delayed completion of works intended to protect central Newbury from 1-in-a-100 year extreme flood potential have temporarily restricted passage along the bottom section of Northcroft Stream.

The £2m Newbury Flood Alleviation Scheme (FAS) commenced in October 2012, and, as the EA currently reports, "The work was expected to be completed this spring but high groundwater levels locally and high flows in the River Kennet prevented us beginning some of the planned work until the spring. We now expect to finish on site in late summer 2013."

The access/portage point river left above the low-level pipe at the back of Island House and before Bewicks Reach cannot currently be accessed via Northcroft car park due to this area having been fenced of around a portacabin compound.

It will be interesting to see if improved access to the river has been provided once the compound is removed.

Paddling below this point would currently require exiting the river to the right almost immediately after the sluiced canal outflow by Dolton Mews as a barrage has been slung across the water course before the old slalom polls.

The new flood defence walls (and raised groundworks) at the back of Berwicks Reach are irrelevant to any thoughts of egress as these are private residence gardens.

The barrage before the old slalom polls (which now come with additional angling debris should you be thinking of playing here at a future date) on Northcroft Stream.

The barrage has been put in place to help protect the embankment enhancement wall currently being completed a little further downstream alongside Northcroft Lane between the Salvation Army Shop and the terrace of the Lock Stock & Barrel pub.  From the EA again: "We have installed a stone platform in the river near the Lock Stock and Barrel pub. This has been built to allow access for our machinery to construct a new river wall. The piled foundations for the wall are now complete and over the coming weeks we will be building the wall up to its full height."

 

The works platform has temporarily narrowed the Northcroft stream channel...

 

...but once the works have been completed the platform will be removed.

 

Any thoughts of slipping past the upstream barrage to shoot the remaining current channel might be tempered with the though of the further temporary bars to safe navigation. 

Chemical kill on the Kennet - UPDATE: Restrictions lifted

9 July 2013 – DF/XXX/13

Restrictions on the Kennet lifted but Environment Agency investigation continues

The Environment Agency is still appealing to the public for information about where a pesticide that polluted the River Kennet between Marlborough and Hungerford last week came from.

Environment Agency officers have been investigating the source of the pollution, believed to be chlorpyrifos, a common agricultural pesticide, and have been taking samples to assess the impacts on the water quality.

Samples taken last week and over the weekend show that the pesticide has dissipated naturally with the water flow and levels have dropped significantly since last week.

Public Health England continues to work in partnership with the Environment Agency and Wiltshire and West Berkshire Council after a pesticide polluted the River Kennet between Marlborough and Hungerford.

Following the latest round of water sample results, Public Health England has advised that the previous restrictions asking the public and pets to avoid skin contact with the water can be removed. The Food Standards Agency has also advised that there should be no restrictions on eating fish caught in the river.

Paul Hudson from the Environment Agency said: “It is obviously great news that the pesticide has dissipated naturally and that the precautionary restrictions put in place have been removed following advice from Public Health England and the Food Standards Agency.

“We are still trying to trace the source of the pesticide, and we would appeal for anyone who has information to come forward so that we can take steps to educate those responsible and others to try to prevent it from happening again.

“We are also meeting with business owners along the Kennet regularly to keep them informed of the latest information.”

Environment Agency investigations have shown that many macro-invertebrates were killed last week, but there have been no reports of any fish killed.

Anyone with any information about this incident, or any pollution or environment incident, should contact us by calling our hotline number 0800 80 70 60.

Ends

Chemical kill on the Kennet

The following warning has been issued with regard to the River Kennet:

"Environment Agency investigating pollution on the River Kennet

04-Jul-2013
 

The Environment Agency is appealing to the public for information about a pesticide that has polluted the River Kennet between Marlborough and Hungerford.

 

Environment Agency officers have been investigating the source of the pollution, believed to be chlorpyrifos, a common agricultural pesticide, and have been taking samples to assess the impacts on the water quality.

Investigations have shown that many macro-invertebrates have been killed, but there have been no reports of any fish killed.

Public Health England, working in partnership with the Environment Agency and Wiltshire and West Berkshire Councils, has advised the public to avoid skin contact with the water in the river until the exact concentrations and impacts of the pesticide have been determined. People are also being advised not to fish or to eat any fish caught in this stretch of the river at this time.

Paul Hudson from the Environment Agency said: “We have had officers out this week sampling the river as part of our investigation, and we will be back on site tomorrow and throughout the weekend to continue to monitor the impacts and any longer term issues.

“There are numerous locations and ways it could have entered the sewage treatment works before it reached the river, and we are appealing for any information anyone has about how this happened.“

“The levels in the river are not believed to be harmful, particularly as there has been no impact on fish in the river, but Public Health England has advised that people should avoid contact with the skin and keep their pets away from the water until further information is available.”

“Our main aim now is to investigate what has happened here, mitigate the impacts on the aquatic wildlife and take steps to educate those responsible and others to try to prevent it from happening again. We will also continue to keep river users along the Kennet informed as our investigation continues.”

“We are appealing to anyone with any information about this incident to get in contact with us by calling our hotline number 0800 80 70 60.”

Warning signs (often accompanied by a copy of the above statement) have been placed alongside numerous points of potential access to the upper reach of the River Kennet from Mildenhall...

...down to Eddington at Hungerford.

Barbel Bar wave shaping up for the sunshine

The small playable wave that forms below Barbel Bar weir was looking in nice form on the way home from work on Thursday evening.  Just right for some fun in the coming weekend sunshine...

 

 

Make an old lady proud... go paddling on the River Kennet

River Kennet paddlers, 1643-2013.

1643 was not a good year for paddling on the River Kennet.  Especially if you were an old lady living in Newbury with an 'unnatural' ability to control your 'planck' on the flow of the then uncanalised waterway.

In his Parliamentarian propaganda pamphlet of that year, "A Most Certain, Strange, and true Discovery of a Witch" (which is subtitled "being taken by some of the Parliament forces as she was standing on a small planck board and sayling on it over the river of Newbury: together with the strange and true manner of her death, with the propheticall words and speeches she used at the same time."), John Hammond 'described' how foraging soldiers of the Earl of Essex dealt with someone who reportedly (good blog post on the pamphlet here) demonstrated an affinity with her local natural waterway environment, had the temerity to disregard the self-serving prejudices of the age, and laughed at self-proclaimed authority.  Having failed to overcome their ignorance, the soldiers adopted increasingly extreme responses, and eventually dispatched the woman by a bullet to the head, before justifying their actions with her posthumous vilification.

Leaping forward a mere 370 years to today, and it would appear that there are a small number of modern day 'Parliamentarians' and their camp followers for whom the act of canoeing and kayaking on the River Kennet is viewed as being as legitimate as witchcraft was in the 17th Century.

It's the "law of the land", the "law of the land", the "law of the land" I say... What do you mean by 'name the law'?  It's the "law of the land!"  Time for an "exemplary prosecution" methinks!

Former Reading West MP, Martin Salter, is now the Angling Trust's (AT) National Campaigns Co-ordinator, and the President of the Reading and District Angling Association.  His long standing position of objecting to inland waterway navigation rights is well attested, and he continues to use the unqualified phrase "the law of the land" to justify his opinion that "The rights of navigation are clear in law".  Whilst he has yet to answer the recent statement from the UK Government Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) that "There is no clear case law on whether a 'common law right of navigation' exists on unregulated rivers. This is widely accepted to be an unclear and unresolved issue.", it is unlikely that such minor contradictions will impinge on his rhetoric.

In December 2012 Martin Salter wrote "I’m also sure we will be kept busy by the antics of the canoeists who will continue to flout the law until and unless we can secure a couple of exemplary prosecutions.".  When questioned in detail about this he failed to respond to a simple question:

Mr Justice Lightman has ruled that the: "Public Right of Navigation [PRON] may only be extinguished by legislation or exercise of statutory powers or by destruction of the subject matter of PRN eg through silting up of the watercourse."

A little over a month later, a succinct challenge to the claim by the Angling Trust on their Facebook page that "we prosecute [...] those who illegally paddle through sensitive spawning sites" could only be met with a similarly hollow threat:

Excerpted from an Angling Trust Facebook post thread dated 27.01.13.

Leaving aside consideration that such immature responses are hardly those befitting a NGB that styles itself "The Voice of Angling", these continuing assertions of opinions being 'facts' contribute little to forwarding a clarification of the issues around navigation rights, and in failing to dispel ignorance they can easily lead to further hardening of prejudices.

Step forward Mark Lloyd, Chief Executive at the Angling Trust.  This is the man who, despite ridicule of the AT's December 2012 assertion that "Organised trespasses are becoming all the more commonplace and are promoted through the 'independent' website 'Song of the Paddle' http://www.songofthepaddle.co.uk/ which promotes what they call 'open canoeing'.", repeated the phrase in demonstration of his complete ignorance of paddling two days later.

Does this help Mark?

In his response to George Monbiot's recent Guardian blog post referring to the River Kennet, Mark Lloyd once again repeated the standard AT line that "The law has been repeatedly confirmed by the courts and is absolutely clear: there is no universal right for people to canoe on non-tidal waters." whilst completely disregarding reminders of the clear statement to the contrary by DEFRA.  This is somewhat unsurprising in that, despite an open invitation dating from early 2011, the AT has also failed to make any cogent rebuttal of the works of the Rev'd Dr. Douglas Caffyn in support of a Public Right of Navigation (PRON):

Mark Lloyd's feeble and insulting response to the works of Douglas Caffyn (not to mention the University of Kent, the University of Sussex, and just about every other research student) consisted of "Both the BCU and Monbiot are causing confusion among the paddling public by promoting the work of one MSc student who wrote a thesis along these lines some years ago. Like many student theses, it has no foundation in truth or reality."  

When requested on the Guardian's online pages to simply identify the 'law' referred to, Mark Lloyd was unable to do so, despite supplying a number of largely irrelevant additional comments and citations of legal rulings which were comprehensively demolished. Ultimately he confirmed that he would "not be continuing this discussion", and by failing to either provide a substantive basis to his claims or move forward in a genuine effort to compromise, retreated to a position of continuing denial. 

This is a place that certain vested interests are happy to occupy in the belief that the clock can be stopped and a status quo maintained.  In response to the question "Will you rule out a statutory 'right to paddle' for canoeists?" Kennet riparian landowner Richard Benyon MP is reported to have said that "I want to be really clear about this. While we want more people to get out and enjoy activities in the countryside they must be complimentary [sic]. There are plenty of places to canoe where it is appropriate and others where it is not. There will be no change to our policy of supporting voluntary access agreements as the only way forward."

A reminder from 2007 when Richard Benyon was still keen to be seen to support his Newbury constituents' rights to use the Kennet Navigation.  His canvassing presence at the Crafty Craft Race on the weekend before the 2010 general election might now be considered to have been somewhat hypocritical.  On the 14 May 2010 Richard Benyon was appointed as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at DEFRA with a portfolio that includes responsibility for inland waterways.  On the 18 June 2010 he resigned as a Vice President of the Kennet & Avon Canal Trust.  Whilst it might be said that this decision was taken to avoid a conflict of interest, his ministerial appointment has not stopped Richard Benyon and his family estate's continuing close association with the RDAA.

With regard to "voluntary access agreements" (VAAs), the concept of 'returning' to a system discredited by 50 years of failure holds little attraction to paddlers, and smacks of desperation on the part of land owners and fisheries who would still like to believe that "canoeing is only allowed with the permission of the people who hold property and fishing rights" (another Mark Lloyd comment from his Monbiot article response which completely fails to recognise that owning or purchasing fishing rights has absolutely no connection with inland navigation rights).  Either a PRON exists, in which case VAAs have no relevance (or validity as a government policy) other than for the potential to provide access to waterways and not control navigation along them, or it doesn't, in which case you might have expected to have seen regular prosecutions of paddlers.

For those ordinary anglers who would prefer not to share our waterways, comments such as those quoted by Messrs Slater, Lloyd and Benyon above are often taken to be accurate reflections of the law, may lead to further ill-informed repetition of unsubstantiated views on the PRON in England and Wales, and can even appear to provide 'justification' of the 21st century equivalent of 'loading the lead shot' as a solution.

The RDAA website members forum provides a clear example of this.  In June 2011 a thread was created where a member asked "Are canoes allowed on LB" ("LB" being the 'Lower Benyons', or the riverine loop of the Kennet at Sulhamstead). 

The first respondent expressed a belief on the subject, but sought clarification from the Association's officers: "as far as i was aware the stretch at lower benyons in considered non-navigable so canoes and boats should not be on it. if someone who knows more on this can confirm if i'm right in that belief it would be appreciated"

The RDAA General Secretary replied with the statement "Difficult to stop it as I am not sure if that backwater is deemed non - navigable."  However, the RDAA Fisheries Officer apparently believed differently, and stated "Lower Benyons from the weir downstream to where it rejoins the canalised section at Theale river is most defenatly [sic] NON-NAVIGABLE. That means no boats, dingies, rubber rings surf boards etc etc without the landowners permission."  .

This in turn led to a further member's comment that this was "Excellent info to know!", and that canoeists on this stretch would have the "rule book" thrown at them (without actually having been provided with anything more than opinion, let alone the relevant clause in the 'rule book').

When the question "Whats the ruleing [sic] on Canoe`s on the river kennet ?" arose again in September 2011, the original poster from above by then felt confident enough in the received message from the RDAA to write "They are not allowed there but i don't know what anyone can actually do short of a 3 oz zip lead, trebles and 50lb whiplash braid, should give a good battle in the current though if you do get 1 on".  The Fisheries Officer reinforced this opinion with the comment "Upper and Lower Benyons are private 'river' stretches", which in turn led to a member writing "Right then,Next time i`ll be taking my 30lb uptider stand up harness and my Conger Club.  ".

Such threats have been disavowed by the RDAA Chairman, and appear to have now ceased, at least in the public space of the RDAA forum, but it is easy to see how misinformation and ignorance can beget more of the same. 

The confusion of some RDAA members continued, and in July 2012 the question was once again asked in regard to paddling on the River Kennet: "it would be good to know rights of the situation regarding RDAA reaches of the Kennet and what to say when confronted with the situation."   Despite his previous forthright statements, the RDAA Fisheries Officer now felt only able to write "We are currently looking into our legal possition [sic] on this and as such we will not make any comments on a open forum.  We will however comment once our possition is clear."

With no answer from the RDAA having been publicly provided in the last 8 months, the position might now be considered best answered by referring to statute law (the real 'law of the land'); the 1715 Kennet Navigation Act states "It is also hereby further Enacted and declared by the Authority aforesaid that the said River Kennett is and forever hereafter shall be esteemed and taken to be Navigable". 

If you don't fancy a trip down to the Public Records Office in Kew to see the original documents for yourself you might want to make do with the words of the Benyons' Estate Office as reported in the Monbiot article, where it says "Benyon leases his fishing on the Kennet to the Reading and District Angling Association (RDAA). Here, his office conceded, 'the entire stretch is fully navigable by water craft.' "

With this in mind, why not make an old lady proud, and spare her a thought as you enjoy your age old right to navigate the River Kennet.

Open boating on County Lock Weir

Having not been down to the centre of Reading for a while, it was good to spot this submission for the Canoe England monthly photo competition:

Photo reproduced with kind permission of Oliver Richardson.  Good luck in the competition!

With the fall off of Kennet river levels during April, the wave below the weir at County Lock appears to be perfect for a spot of open boating.

This weir was not always such a good spot for paddling.  For many years a footbridge topped the weir on support stanchions, but by the 1990's it had fallen into disrepair, before being completely removed.  If travelling dowstream to the weir take care with the floating bollards which are designed to stop larger craft missing the lock, and whether canoeing or kayaking, airbags are always a good idea at this spot, as can be seen from this earlier video:

RDAA accuses Devizes to Westminster teams/crews of littering the Kennet

In its General Secretary's report for April, the Reading & District Angling Association (RDAA)has made the following statement: 
 
CANOE RACE

Following the latest race I will be contacting Canals & Rivers Trust with reference to the amount of litter discarded by the contestants and watchers on to our Froxfield venue. If this had been anglers leaving this amount of rubbish we would have been reprimanded.

The race referred to is the International Devizes to Westminster Canoe Race which took place over the Easter Holiday weekend.  The Froxfield section concerned is on the Kennet and Avon Canal from just above Lock 67 to just below Lock 71.  Froxfield Lock (#68) is at the DW Race 23 mile marker, some 2.7 miles before the Hungerford race checkpoint.

Given that no evidence or any actual information on the amount of the alleged litter was provided, I took a couple of bin bags down to the parking point at Froxfield Lock (#68) yesterday, which is at the DW Race 23 mile marker, some 2.7 miles before the Hungerford race checkpoint.

Free parking is available next to Lock 68 near Froxfield on the Kennet & Avon Canal.

I almost immediately found a canoeing-branded 500ml drink bottle and an isotonic gel sachet taped for attachment to a canoe race competitor, which were duly picked up, and have since been recycled/binned.

The better news is that in a 7km search upstream as far as Lock 67 and downstream to Lock 71 and back (including careful checks around all the lock portage points) no other canoeing related litter was found.  However, that's still two bits of litter too many, so, to borrow the words of an advertising campaign originally set up in Australia...

This message is less offensive than litter.  There is no excuse: take your litter home or bin it properly.

More positive environmental news comes in the shape of some other 'debris' discovered at the side of Lock 71:

The remains of an Otter's lunch by Lock 71, which means there are at least three less American Signal Crayfish (ASC) in the Canal.

Click on the highlighted text for more information on ASC biosecurity for paddlers and Otters in the River Kennet.

Minority environmental abuse on the River Kennet

Last November, this blog reported on how Access to the River Kennet at Arrowhead Road had been lost to legitimate river users, an action possibly influenced by the litter left at that location by "a minority of the public".

Another stretch of the River Kennet is now suffering from similar ongoing seasonal abuse by a small but persistent anti-social element, which is affecting a section of a navigable riverine Kennet channel, principally over a length of approximately 350m, and up to a maximum recorded extent of about 800m.

The area in question is facing the following issues.

 

1.  General littering of the banks (which could be down to anyone), and some very specific angling related litter.

 

Luncheon meat (and a number of similar canned meat-based products) is a favourite bait for River Kennet Barbel anglers, but hey, one discarded 'tin' spotted yesterday doesn't constitute a substantial disregard for the environment...

 

 ...so lets play 'how many cans can you spot in one photograph?' (this image is from 24.03.13 and perhaps reflects an 'end of season' attitude)...

 

....or we could consider a selection of photographs from the last month.  It may be that I've seen the same rubbish before, so I've only added a small selection here.  Over the summer the undergrowth behind the access footpath will disguise previously uncleared rubbish.

 

 The length of time some of this rubbish has been left undisturbed and the process of slow decay is attested by these images from today.

 

You might think that the colour of some discarded angling equipment might help hide it from ready view, and 'excuse' those responsible for cleaning up for not having spotted it 
(assuming that those people who dumped it the first place couldn't have taken it away)...

 

...but when the undergrowth dies back you may come across the fishing umbrella equivalent to an  uncleared elephant graveyard.
 

More of the same (from January 2012)...

...and from today.

Some of the angling litter at this location is less easy to miss; this reel lying by the side of the public footpath today was not exactly hard to spot...

...and neither was this large plastic bag left beside the river.  It's a shame that the Angling Trust haven't been more rigorous in promoting their Tidy Angler project (funded by the Environment Agency, which therefore means the taxpayer is paying for a scheme that doesn't appear to be having much effect at this location).

 

Some of the angling rubbish at this site has obviously blown in from fishing lakes behind the river where anglers seek different prey, but it's a good place to escape from immediate view, which leads to point no. 2...

 

2. Human excrement.

 

Unfortunately, this is not the only example of anglers being 'caught short' on this section of the Kennet (their foresight in bringing toilet paper might be more commendable had they also thought of bringing a trowel or a bucket and bin bag too) but I think one photo is enough.  Those who may shortly be cleaning up this area might want to adopt appropriate health care precautions.

 

3. Now we come to a problem that affects all waterways, and which is an issue affecting both wildlife and paddlers when it comes to this section of the River Kennet.  Discarded and abandoned fishing tackle.

 

It's often really hard to see fishing line when paddling, but whilst this section of the River Kennet is only legally fished from the north bank (and therefore the fishing rights may only extend to half way across the river) that doesn't mean you won't face the possibility of snagging at any point along either side of this riverine section.

 

Most decent anglers will try to remove snagged lines (look closely at the center of this picture; so far as I'm aware the angler whose rod was still attached to this line removed it before departing)...

 

 ...but this section of the River Kennet seems to suffer from a surfeit of either myopic or vicariously thoughtless and careless anglers (this picture was taken in November 2012: it shows a fishing hook and length of fishing line at head height which was removed by a paddler from a clearly visible angling bankside location along the section of concern).  Once again, the principals of the AT's Tidy Angler project don't seem to have made much of an impression here.

More line with hook and float from today; if you think this looks fairly harmless...

 

...it's also difficult for wildlife to spot discarded fishing line as a snag hazard.  The victim in this picture, taken today, was a moorhen.

 

4.  We now come to a little recognised hazard which may be particularly relevant along this section of the River Kennet.  Underwater snagging.  The type of line and hooks shown in the pictures above are no less dangerous to wildlife when underwater.

This tree fall has remained in place for a long time during which time it has become a favoured spot for local anglers.  However, there is a risk that it has gained a considerable underwater collection of lost line and hooks. 

The words of a concerned angler best describe this issue: "Fishing to snags can be VERY productive BUT it has a shocking downside that as anglers we rarely see. I am talking about tethered fish.

Through my work within fishery management I have been involved in many snag removal projects and they are always unpopular with the anglers fishing the venue at the time. They change the appearance of the fishery and they will change the behaviour of the fish. However in the last twenty or so years I have rescued a number of tethered fish during such operations and also removed miles of line, bucketfuls of leads and of course many rigs. Sadly I have also found fish that have been tethered that have not survived."

It is the responsibility of riparian landowners (or their delegated authority) to ensure that water can flow through their land without any obstruction.  It is also a responsibility to "clear any litter and animal carcasses from the channel and banks, even if it did not come from your land."

This particular hazard can be negotiated with care by paddlers in normal flows, even when residual growth and accumulated summer foliage appears to present a curtain against downstream view.  The complaint of an angler of this section of the Kennet that this blog contains "photos of some favourite swims being cleared for passage" presumably refers to this picture from 2011:   

This is the same location as pictured in the preceding image.  The paddlers are not removing the branches in this instance, but canoeists are uniquely able to assist in clearance of river debris.  Unfortunately, and as the above quote indicates, there are those who would rather see such blockages remain in place.

Elsewhere on this stretch of the Kennet banks have been cleared to provide ease of angling access and reduce the chance of snagging, but in the following examples (pictures taken of a spot opened up to provide an additional point from which to cast a line just below the previously pictured tree falls) care for the environment does not appear to have been the priority.

Branches cut to avoid snagging would be better properly removed...

...no, lesson not learned.

 

This particular point does not assist paddlers wishing to portage here because the bank is too high.  However, there are numerous other places along the course of this channel where the banks and vegetation have been previously cleared for angling access, and which might serve for access or egress where the public footpath runs alongside the north bank (river left), or, further along the loop, in emergency need.

Where bankside clearance has already been made, access/egress for paddlers is often ideal if the location is not otherwise occupied and where it provides access to legal rights of way; a vacant peg on the River Kennet yesterday.

Just in case you haven't worked it out by now, this section of the River Kennet (and from where all of the pictures above have been taken, although there are many more from other locations along this river) is the Sulhamstead loop which runs for about 900m from Sulhamstead weir to the point where it rejoins the canal cut below Sulhamstead Lock. 

The fishing rights here are exclusively leased by the Reading and District Angling Association (RDAA).  The President of the RDAA is Martin Salter, who is also the National Campaigns Co-ordinator of the Angling Trust.  RDAA call this beat the "Lower Benyons" in deference to the owners of the estate which leases them the fishing rights here, a family of which Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Natural Environment, Water and Rural Affairs Richard Benyon MP (his ministerial portfolio includes inland waterways) is a member.

It should be emphasised that the vast majority of anglers care deeply about our rivers, and have a great deal of knowledge to share with all those who feel the same way.  There is great opportunity for all river users to work together for the benefit of the environment. The minority who are not willing to accept their responsibilities have no place by our waterways, and those who seek to use environmental arguments to exclude canoeists and kayakers from English and Welsh rivers might first wish to put their own house in order.