NOT content with all the rest of the current stoppages and navigation restrictions, writes Tony Dunkley.
The Ribble Link has been unnecessarily closed to navigation because of what the Canal & River Trust is calling 'a damaged seal on the Tidal Stop Gate lock, which is preventing operation'.
https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notices/28675-navgation-closure-ribble-link
Closure unnecessary
Not only is this closure unnecessary, but the reason given is complete nonsense, and serves only to demonstrate yet again its incompetence.
There is in fact no 'Tidal Stop Gate Lock' anywhere on the so-called Ribble Link, or anywhere else for that matter! There is, however, something known by professional competent Harbour, Port and Navigation Authorities as a Half-tide Gate (or Barrier).
It's situated a short distance up Savick Brook from where it runs into and joins the River Ribble, and it is the seal on this Half-Tide Gate that has failed. The sole function of this rising Half-tide Gate is to retain a constant minimum navigable depth of water of 0.9 metre (3 feet) in the short semi-tidal section of Savick Brook, up as far as the tail and outer/bottom cill of the Ribble Link Lock No. 8, when fully raised and closed.
The minimum navigable depth of water of 0.9 metre (3 feet) retained in the lower semi-tidal section of Savick Brook with the Half-tide Gate raised (closed) is equivalent to a tide height in the lower section of Savick Brook and the River Ribble of (Chart Datum plus) 7.9 metres, or 3.0 metres above Ordnance Datum Newlyn (ODN), 0.4 metre above Mean High Water Neaps (MHWN), and 1.3 metres below Mean High Water Springs (MHWS).
Open as normal
The so-called Ribble Link is in reality and practical terms, open to navigation as normal, albeit with a variable and reduced period of time, particularly on smaller tides, when there is sufficient depth of water available for passage through the short lower semi-tidal section of Savick Brook from the Half-Tide Gate to Lock No.8.
It follows therefore, that there is absolutely no need for any pre-booked passages to be cancelled. The only necessity being for operations and boat movements to be planned, supervised, and completed in a rather more professional and organised manner than ever previously achieved by C&RT, and this would almost certainly mean most if not all of the Tarleton to Preston (UP) passages being completed in two stages with an overnight stay at Preston Docks Marina, until the seals on the Half-Tide Gate are repaired/replaced.