Fish stops work on river landing stage until mid-June

SURELY the pendulum has swung too far when fish stop work for six months.

The work is on the Derby Riverboat landing stage on the Derwent that the Derby and Sandiacre Canal Trust require for its proposed trip boat.

Will not give permission

Operating the trip boat would greatly increase funds for the trust, but it is not to be anytime soon, as the Environment Agency will not give permission for work to proceed with piling as this would upset the fish, though the agency will allow just two days work before March and then it has to stop until mid-June.

The landing stage is in the form of a boarding pontoon that requires piling, but the long delay is increasing its already considerable cost of installing the piling to start test drills of the river bed, before the actual piling can be completed.

The trust is investigating other methods to try and contain the increasing cost and allow the operation of the trip boat.