Gates in a poor way for several years

Just to clarify little Burton lock 27, writes Stewart Downs.

See the attached photographs taken a few days ago on the Oxford canal.

As you can see the top gate cill is in a poor way. It's been like this for several years.

The situation has deteriorated this year, and the pound above is now partially draining overnight. By the morning, the pound is extremely low and difficult to navigate. (I suspect I picked up several dents/nicks on my propeller this time.) 

As you can see from the photographs the bottom gates do not seal properly and the water leaking through the top gate cill leaks into the pound below the lock.

The overflowing spill weir, is off the lock directly below the lock with the leaking top gate cill. (Plenty of water from the drained pound.)

A simple solution to save water would be to rebuild the cill this winter.

But a temporary solution would be to seal the bottom gates by installing wooden strips in the very large gap. Not a particularly difficult job for any trained waterways engineer. If they have any left on the Oxford Canal?

This would save thousands of litres an hour! More importantly it would help keep the navigation open.

PS

Re the Watford Lock 5 gate recent incident. We passed through in April this year and noticed the lock beam was a bit wobbly. Mentioned it to the volunteer and he acknowledged it was, but pointed out it was over 30 years old!!!

PPS
We have been extremely fortunate as we have been able to explore most of the canal and river waterways. As of next year, we will confine ourselves to navigating the Thames. (No point purchasing a gold licence when Canal & River Trust waterways are now almost unnavigable.)