The Mill Stream, running near the Abbey Meadows in Abingdon, had become overgrown with fallen trees, and willows, and silted up. It had not been cleared for a long time. Anglers in particular are effected and are worried that the Mill Stream, dug by the monks in the days of Abingdon Abbey, might soon be no more.
I am told that The Environment Agency (E.A.) had some budget two years ago to clear the Mill Stream, and started work, but then stopped because of some unknown objection. Now that money could have been reallocated.
Paul Gustafson has been campaigning on this issue for some years, and was dismayed when this very important work was stopped by the EA. He also spoke to the Vale of White Horse District Council (VWHDC), who have financed some clearance work – which was carried out last week by a contractor.
He is full of praise for VWHDC and the contractors for their efforts, but says “More work is needed to stop us loosing this stream.”
He explained the problems:
* The top end, where water enters from the Thames, is still overgrown with willows and reed beds which stop the flow of water into the Mill Stream.
* The Mill Stream is so silted up that it is no longer a good spawning ground for fish. Fish need a gravel bed.
* Blockages to flow increase the potential for flooding.
* The Mill Stream is also blocked where it flows under the Upper Reaches.
He has spoken to the Environment Agency (EA) but at the moment their spokesperson has said that navigable waterways are their priority. Paul argues that all anglers pay the EA (£27.50) for a rod license and that money should be put back into angling, and sees little evidence of that in Abingdon.
So some clearance work has happened but the project is far from over. There needs to be a proper maintenance programme for the Mill Stream. This will involve Riparian (Riverside) landowners and the EA to make sure it happens.
Good topic backstreeter and one that simply boils down to the two organisations responsible for this mess taking up their responsibilies.
Mention is made of the fishermen and where their EA rod licence money goes? Mention should be made to Boat owners EA licence too and where that pot goes ( my annual licence is £600!)
A previous thread featured work being done along the Culham road? Ditch clearing and much new planting, for some years now the EU has prohibited river dredging, hence the Thames in places is almost silted up, in fact the EA write to boaters last year advising us not to go upstream of Abingdon lock because they could no longer guarantee a depth of a meter or more, the skippers on Salters steamers have often said if it wasn’t for their powerful boats running up and down the river would have silted up years ago! The EA are financing landowners planting trees along and near the river in the belief they will drink up any flood water created by silted up rivers! What rubbish!!
That said responsibility for the river rests with the land owner either side of the river. Riparian rights which all land owners are subject to states clearly the responsibility for the third of the river adjacent to the bank each side rest with the land owner and it is they who are responsible for its maintenance and flow, in short the Vale have a legal obligation to clear the mill stream and just as importantly the Thames through Abingdon, the Abbey Meadow and Tiger island river bank is a disgrace!
Speaking with Richard the lock keeper about the Mill stream a couple of years ago we concluded the main problem was when they boarded up the Upper Reaches hotel the closed the water wheel and its sluces, which brought the flow to a stand still, it took me ages to contact the right person at council to persuade someone to open up the sluces again!
Babe headvisland is another place where the banks are not maintained, the Two Willows at the end are so over grown they obliterate the beach between them
I’m not how we could do this and how it would be viewed by the Vale and EA but we have a green gym and AbiBinit so why not a river maintenance group!
“Babe head” should be Nags Head- spell checker!!
This should make way for all the extra water coming down the Thames from the Oxford flood scheme. The whole of Oxford is a flood plane. We are not convinced that once the water is denied the Oxford flood plane that a greater volume of water will not come down to Abingdon. At certain times the level of the Thames is only about 1 inch from the top of the Wilsham Road. Now that the flood defences are no longer going ahead in Abingdon we shall wait to see what effect this has.
Thursday’s meeting dealt with the question of whether EA can introduce one alleviation scheme which might have adverse impacts elsewhere: they reported that this is prohibited by the statutory provisions under which they operated. For this reason they assured us that the Oxford scheme (which is a diversionary flood plain) will have no impact on Abingdon.
The meeting also heard two different views about dredging (pro and con): there are arguments both ways, but EA keep the central third of the river clear as a navigation channel. Some (not all) riverside vegetation is left to promote wildlife habitat.
Both the MP (layla.moran.mp@parliament.uk) and the EA promised to answer enquiries directed to them, so perhaps we should take them up on their offer instead of getting frustrated on this blog 🙂
Horsesmouth – where did you get the idea that the EU prohibited dredging?
Yet another thing that we’ll be free to do once we get our country back on March 29? I can’t wait…..
Been there, done that PPJS and it doesn’t work! I e reams and reams of “stuff” from the “experts” at the E.A and their take on dredging is this, rivers are self maintaining in as much as any silt that builds up is washed away by natural process by flooding and storm, but that theory falls to bits when for many months ( or even years ) there’s no flooding or storms so the silt builds up and up so much so it makes levels impassable ( the approach to the lock is an example) and even if a flood or storm washes the silt away it only deposits it further downstream!
Am I right in thinking that the flow of the mill stream is also impeded by one of the mill races having being blocked when the Upper Reaches Hotel was originally developed? In the past the stream powered multiple mills, as you can see on the mid sixteenth century so-called “Monks Map”. I assume that unblocking the mill races would solve the problem without any need for interference with bankside habitat as the greater flow would clear the silt.
@Horsesmouth: I simply report what was said at the meeting about dredging: a boat owner was strongly in favour, an angler was equally strongly against. The EA has to make a decision and predictably it will not please everyone.
In the meantime, please don’t shoot the messenger!