Ben Jones, from Jones Boatyard, writes about the history of the River Great Ouse and flooding.
The River Great Ouse is a natural drain with a large catchment area 8500km2.
It originally became a navigation in the seventeenth century as it was historically important for commercial navigation.
Lock structures were erected to manage the water flows, the gates holding back water during dry periods and allowing the river to behave "as nature intended" during wet ones.
As some of you will know over last winter, St. Ives Staunch and the next structure downstream, Brownshill Staunch, fell into disrepair with many gates became inoperable, restricting the Environment Agencies ability to manage water levels.
St Ives also experienced unusually high flooding, restricting access to Enderbys Wharf, Whitecross and around the Waits.
At St Ives Staunch only three of the seven sluice gates were and remain operational, four have been secured closed. The structure is working at only 40 per cent capacity.
At the next staunch downstream, Brownshill, only one of the three large radial sluice gates is working, the structure is working at only 33 per cent capacity.
Both structures are currently restricting the river flows and preventing flood water escaping. This issue was raised with the Environment Agency, who have been responsible for maintenance of the structures since 1996.
It concluded that: “Overall, this evidence demonstrates that, based on the funding calculator we are required to use, the sluice provides limited flood risk benefit and is uneconomic.
"Under the current funding policy arrangements, a project would not therefore be eligible for government funding. The evidence also suggests that the current condition of St Ives Staunch Sluice is not having a significant impact on the risk of properties flooding."
In July 2024, the EA changed the "Primary Purpose" definitions of both Brownshill and St. Ives Staunch to "navigation", rather than "drainage".
This is concerning, as they are stating that the structures do not significantly offer protection to homes and buildings which will affect funding to repair the structures.
When questioned further the EA explanation for these changes state: “The St Ives structure remains an National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management structure in that it is owned by our flood risk function, and they remain responsible for inspecting it and maintaining it.
"However its purpose is now defined on our asset management database as ‘Navigation’, that is because of all of the modelling work done recently confirming evidence that whilst it does provide some flood benefit (to land, access roads and 3 properties) these benefits are not sufficient for us to maintain it solely for the purposes of managing flood risk, i.e. under current policy the costs of undertaking repair works outweigh the ‘flood risk benefits’ provided by the structure."
We are swiftly moving toward a position where the entire structures will become beyond economic repair, and effectively become a weir which will mean longer flood events and higher water levels upstream of the structures.
Have you got a story you want to share with us? Get in touch at: francesca.herring@newsquest.co.uk or newsdesk@huntspost.co.uk.
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