Waterways Minister says no to statutory right of access for paddlers

On the 13 June 2011 MP Ian Austin (Dudley North, Labour) received the following response to his Parliamentary written question
 "To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will consider the merits of introducing a statutory right of access for unpowered craft to inland water for recreational purposes."

Richard Benyon (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Natural Environment and Fisheries), Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; MP for Newbury, Conservative) replied that

"We have no plans to introduce a statutory right of access to inland water for unpowered craft for recreational purposes. We are keen to achieve far greater levels of access to waterways for canoeists and other users by encouraging locally agreed, voluntary, access agreements. This fits very well with the big society agenda as it will give access where it is needed and meet the needs of all users and interested parties."

Whilst it comes as no surprise that this Minister has reiterated his personal and party stance in this way, it serves to once again highlight  the facile emptiness of the Coalition Government's claim that it seeks to build a fairer society, and demonstrates that it is prepared to ignore the clear failure of this approach over previous years, and its own recent 'Red Card to Red Tape' recommendations to remediate this inequity, in order to protect the status quo in favour of vested interests.

Waterways Minister Richard Benyon disagrees with the report comissioned by the Minister for Sport and the Olympics, Hugh Robertson MP, which conludes that "DEFRA should introduce a statutory right of access in England and Wales for unpowered craft to inland water for recreational purposes.  This system of rights and responsibilities should be based on the Scottish Outdoor Access Code."

River Kennet access on water mapped

Canoeists and kayakers from across the UK have been mapping where the right to paddle on the inland waterways of England and Wales is disputed, and the River Kennet, as well as its riverine remnants along the Kennet Navigation, are clearly defined by a red line running along the watercourse.

After only 7 days, members of the Song Of The Paddle website forum have already logged an impressive number of river miles where access is disputed, and, since the public only has a undisputed statutory (or licensed) right of navigation on 2,200 kms (1,400 miles) out of the 65,000 kms (41,000 miles) of main rivers over 3m wide in England and Wales, the map is likely to become ever more distinctive in this respect.

After the initial recording in green of the easier to distinguish waterways with acknowledged rights of navigation, the idea that England and Wales is a place where the public may enjoy the freedom of responsibly exercised access to and along  their natural river heritage is rapidly being crossed out in red.

The River Kennet downstream from Preshute, Marlborough, and the Kennet Navigation have already been included in this new mapping project, and clearly demonstrate the restrictions that paddlers face along this ancient waterway.

River Kennet paddling hit by the weather... and bankers

In part a continuation of my post on 21.03.10, two 'events' are looking likely to have a serious impact on the health and paddling potential of the riverine Kennet in the coming months.

The first 'event' is the weather, and the reported fact that "April was a very remarkable month in hydrometeorological terms: provisionally it was the warmest April in the 352-year Central England Temperature series, estimated (river) outflows from Britain were the lowest on record for the last week of April, and the end-of-month soil moisture deficits were the highest (for England & Wales) in a 50-year series." [1]

An employee of the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology has further stated that “Historical rainfall figures indicate a tendency for dry spring periods to be followed by above average summer rainfall, but with evaporation rates increasing even average summer rainfall would imply very low late summer river flows – and an associated major contraction in the river network.” [2]

The non-canalised sections of the lower reach of the River Kennet are already beginning to show signs that increased levels of consideration need to be made when planning to paddle off the beaten track of the Navigation, both in terms of environmental conditions and resultant requirements for alternative access.

A couple of strolls around the vicinity of the Old Mill at Aldermaston yesterday evening and this afternoon illustrated some of the issues for paddlers.

The portage around the small but un-runnable weir fed by the canalised flow above the main property - and which avoids the main channel by means of a side stream (supported by the confluence with the River Enborne) - is still entirely viable.  Potential concern about the current thin reed line may be tempered by consideration of what will happen after the fishing season opens (see image from Oct. '09 in link above).

However, whilst the weir pool is deep enough...

...just downstream the water levels are looking rather low.  Whilst this might be beneficial in terms of getting under the low hanging tree branch at the River Enborne confluence, the water level might present issues of potential contact with the river bed. Consideration should always be given to areas of clean gravel bed with fast flowing water where Barbel may have recently spawned (normally between May and July): "The young Barbel hatch within a week , but unlike other coarse fish the young remain in the gravel for several weeks, surviving first off their large yolk sack, and then actively hunting tiny invertebrates in the spaces amongst the gravel." [3]

In seeking to portage this low level section it would be possible to follow the side stream after the River Enborne confluence by the public footpath to the point where it reaches the lower edge of the Old Mill at Aldermaston fishery, and the confluence with the main channel below the sluiced weir.

Alternatively, you might haul your boats a little further along the public footpath, carefully cross the B430 Basingstoke Road, and put in to the river below the road bridge just off the public footpath... 

...except for the fact you would now be on Wasing Estate land that continues to warn against accessing the river from its property.  More about this estate and its owner in a coming post.

The second 'event' that will have a significantly negative impact on the whole of the River Kennet is the Environment Agency's renewal of Thames Water's Axford abstraction licence until March 2013.  Reported online in Newbury Today, the current position would appear to be that the EA is being held over a legal barrel until it saves up/coughs up £10m. 

Taken to its logical, absurd and disgusting conclusion, this situation is likely to be repeated until either the aquifer is unable to  respond to the abstraction requirement (by which time the upper River Kennet will have ceased to exist) or Thames Water persuades its owners in Australia, Macquarie Group Limited, that its admirable efforts in leading the Upper Kennet Restoration Project should be considered as more than a token gesture.


[1] Source: http://www.ceh.ac.uk/news/news_archive/april-hydrological-summary_2011_28.html
[2] Source: ibid.
[3] Source: http://www.fishing.co.uk/species_display.php3?id=1

Water Crowfoot carpets the upper Kennet

Water Crowfoot (ranunculus) should be a seasonal expectation on high quality chalkstream rivers, so it was a pleasure to see so much early growth in evidence today.  Whilst it's perfectly possible to canoe and kayak through such growth (see the seventh picture here), the upper River Kennet is not really a viable paddling destination for any significant length due to depleted/insufficient water levels and access restrictions.

It looks thick enough to walk across.  The Water Crowfoot above George Bridge carpets the river, and similar displays between Chilton Foliat and Leverton currently seem to attest to the health of the river.

There are a number of different types of Water Crowfoot, but healthy chalkstream rivers are typically characterised by this plant growth from April to August.

The local lambs at George Bridge appreciate the soft waterside growth but ranunculus species are essentially poisonous to grazing mammals.

Hydroelectric proposals for the River Kennet could threaten paddling playspots

The idea of hydroelectric generation on the Kennet is nothing new, but renewed proposals to develop sites along the river could threaten the already limited number of playspots available to paddlers along the length of this waterway.

At Padworth Mill the head of impounded water has long been recognised as a source of renewable energy, and sadly, an old turbine house currently sits derelict alongside the main river course.  As the architecture of the weir on this channel of the River Kennet does not lend itself to either shooting the drop or convenient portage (currently impractical because of private property restriction), it might now be time to redevelop the site on environmentally and economically beneficial hydroelectric principals . 

The former turbine house at Padworth Mill sits abandoned next to the main channel as it rushes over the sluiced weir.

Whilst no consideration was given to canoeists when the adjacent fish pass was constructed, the alternative channel of the Padworth Stream provides a potential waterborne detour (with a small portage - see here).

Further upstream at Chamberhouse Mill, near Thatcham, Southern Hydropower Ltd. have already carried out survey and evaluation for micro-hydro potential at the site, determining that it is "well suited to Archimedian screw technology."  Such an installation should have no impact on canoeing or kayaking here as there is currently no facility to permit downstream passage or portage, so access to the river below the weir is only available by means of an upstream paddle (see here).

If the images on their website home page are anything to go by, Southern Hydropower Ltd have also looked at the potential of the weir at Brimpton Mill for micro-hydro generation, whilst their listed development projects also include consideration of the sluice hatches at the Town Mill site in Marlborough.

The weir at Brimpton Mill.  The section of the River Kennet below Chamberhouse Mill is accessible via such as Aldershot Water, but there are issues with access beyond this point, particularly through the Wasing Estate from Kings Bridge to Woolhampton .

The upper reaches of the River Kennet through Marlborough is not a location noted for any serious paddling potential, but the sluice hatches at the Town Mill housing redevelopment offer small scale electrical power potential if a consistent flow regime could be established.

Of more serious concern is the renewed consideration of harnessing Victoria Sluices in Newbury for its hydro electric potential.  This location was evaluated by West Berkshire Council in 2008 for possible contribution to its carbon reduction plan, but the 16 year return on investment of a £200,000 capital outlay shelved the plan at that time.  Now that the Government's Feed In Tariff scheme is set to guarantee payment for low carbon micro-generation, Newbury Town Council is looking at possible sites again.   

Victoria Sluices provide an irregular opportunity for paddlers to play on the wave created during periods of higher flow, and, whilst this feature is by no means a major attraction, it does represent on of the few chances to experience white water on the River Kennet.

It is to be hoped that the installation design of any hydroelectric feature at this location would incorporate an outflow that would maintain or even improve the feature for paddlers.

Kennet abstraction threat escalates

For some strange reason my daughter didn't want to go paddling in last Saturday's sunshine, but she couldn't avoid the river entirely as she was dragged out on a walk up to West Kennet Long Barrow, and from there on to Swallowhead Springs to see how the aquifer was managing to recharge the Kennet after noting the CEH February Hydrological summary which stated that

"the winter (Dec-Feb) precipitation total for the UK was considerably below average (for the third successive year)... Fortunately, the above average February rainfall and near-saturated soil conditions made for plentiful replenishment to reservoirs, and most aquifers, across the majority of the country...After a belated seasonal recovery, groundwater levels are within the normal range across most outcrop areas but still considerably below the early spring average in parts of the southern Chalk... In those areas with significant long term rainfall deficiencies weather patterns in the early spring will be particularly influential in determining the water resources outlook."

On first view things didn't look as bad as I'd feared after the prolonged Autumn dry spell...

The view from between West Kennet Long Barrow and Swallowhead Springs looking North East towards the first bridge over the Kennet after the springs. The river is running again...  

...and on arriving at Swallowhead there was some water flowing out of the springs as well as from the upstream winterbournes, as would be expected in contribution to the flow at this time of year.

By Sunday morning the situation was looking a lot bleaker, with the news that Thames Water have applied to increase their abstraction from the Kennet over the next two years.

This shortsighted plan to take an additional 639 million litres of water per year on top of the 3,410 million litres already extracted from the aquifer at the Axford pumping station will undoubtedly further damage the Kennet and all its wildlife at a time when it is already under severe pressure, and can only be regarded as an escalation of environmental vandalism on an historically monumental scale.

Thames Water's Axford pumping station was reported to have been damaged in a futile protest attack during 2010.  This barely noticed gesture made at an obscure location was never likely to have influenced Thames Water's plans.

In this digital age the application itself is somewhat obscurely lodged as a paper document and if you want to see it you'll have to travel to the Environment Agency's offices in Wallingford during normal working hours - so much for public openness. 

If you want to object you only have until the 24 March 2011, and the easiest way, given the time constraints, is by email: PSC-WaterResources@environment-agency.gov.uk (don't forget to quote reference number NPS/WR/005711 and the name of the applicant, Thames Water).

"River Transport 1189-1600" - a right of navigation on the River Kennet

A new doctoral thesis titled "River Transport 1189-1600" has been published by the Rev'd Douglas Caffyn, which clearly demonstrates that a historical right of river navigation exists on the River Kennet, and that this was the case even prior to the canalisation in creation of the Kennet Navigation.

Rev'd Caffyn's 2004 Master of Laws thesis was titled "The Right of Navigation on Non-tidal Rivers and the Common Law", and in examination of this subject he concluded that, despite misinterpretation of law since 1830, "In common law there is a public right of navigation on all non-tidal rivers which are naturally physically navigable by small boats and on those rivers which have been made physically navigable at public expense." [1].

To date, this position has not been successfully contested, and was reiterated in 2010, when Rev'd Caffyn contributed evidence to the Sustainability Committee of the National Assembly for Wales during their inquiry into access to inland waters in Wales.

The new thesis provides details of historical evidence and indications that provide strong argument that the River Kennet was an acknowledged navigable river even prior to the Navigation Act of 1715.  The fact that the Act states that the creation of the Navigation should not be a reason to increase charges for the use of the existing riverine infrastructure clearly "implies that the river was used prior to modification". [2] 

In mind of his overarching thesis "that all the river which was usable would have been public whether used or not" [3], it is noted that Category A evidence of use has been found for the Kennet for a distance (from the confluence with The Thames) of 30 miles i.e. as far as Hungerford.  Category B evidence of use extends the navigable use of the Kennet upstream by a further 10 miles upstream to Marlborough.[4]

Of particular note with regard to the Kennet is the attention drawn to an article by Professor T.S. Willan in 1936, titled "The Navigation of the Thames & Kennet, 1600-1750".[5]  Willan refers to page 39 of Blome's 1673 work "Britannia", in which the Kennet was described as already being "large and navigable for Barges", some 50 years before the Kennet Navigation was completed.

Rev'd Caffyn's works are now collected at the new Caffyn on Rivers website, where, in addition to his academic theses, you can also find a document on Public Rights of Navigation (PRoN) and the easily digested "Boats On Our Rivers - Again".  All highly recommended reading for anyone who has ever been met with the phrase 'you can't paddle here'!

[1] Caffyn, D. J. M., "The Right of Navigation on Non-tidal Rivers and the Common Law", 2004, p. 151.  Note that this work is only applicable to waterways in England and Wales.

[2] and [3] From Douglas Caffyn by e-mail, 11 February 2011.

[4] Caffyn, D. J. M., "River Transport 1189 - 1600", 2010, p. 374.

[5] Willan, T. S., "The Navigation of the Thames and Kennet 1600 - 1750", The Berkshire Archaeological Journal, Journal 40: 1936, p.146-156.  This article can be retrieved online from here.