Wrong sort of sun closes locks

NOTICES that three locks are closed and one under strict use on the River Great Ouse were issued by the Environment Agency yesterday.

Four locks have emergency closures until further notice with one operating 10am to 3pm, if staff available, but closed completely on both Tuesday and Wednesday next week, Dean Rayner tells us.

Lack of maintenance

The reason being given is that the 'wrong sort of sun' has closed the locks!  But boaters in a local forum believe it is nothing more than the lack of maintenance policy and the failure of the Environment Agency to carry out its statutory duties.

All are guillotine locks, with the closures resulting in queues of trapped boats at every one of the inoperable locks.

Four locks

The locks that are now closed to navigation on the River Great Ouse are Bottisham, Brownshill, St Ives (operating 10am to 3pm,  but closed Tuesday and Wednesday next week); St Neots, pictured.

There is no indication when the locks will reopen to navigation, or if others too will be closed.

LATEST

The heavy downpour seems to have solved the problem with the locks working again, with Peter Early telling us St Ives Lock has a faulty drive coupling (rather like the rubber coupling in a boat drive shaft) which, if it failed completely would allow the gate to drop suddenly, but will be replaced this coming week.