Page updated 13/8/2008
Windsor Hydropower Project - My views
I strongly support hydropower and sustainable energy but............
The Thames is just a drain
The primary purpose of a river is to take water from the land to the sea
The river has served this purpose for thousands of years
Any commercial and recreational benefits are a bonus.
The Thames is no longer a natural river.
The Thames is now highly engineered with locks, weirs and bridges and structures - that all reduce capacity.
These structures reduce the watercourse floodwater carrying capacity
These structures inhibit normal fluvial geomorphology overtime.
Many of the flood arches have become blocked and the Thames has risen over time.
The Thames suffers from lack of flood defence maintenance.
This proposal reduces capacity still further.
Rivers with insufficient capacity increase the probability of flooding.
The National Rivers Authority dredged the Thames continuously.
The Environment Agency took over from the NRA in 1996
The EA immediately abandoned Thames dredging for flood defence purposes and disposed of equipment.
The EA have a duty to dredge for navigational purposes.
The EA are responsible for flood defence, but have no duty to dredge for flood defence purposes.
The EA claims that the Thames is self-scouring ...............
Lack of capacity upstream of Windsor was used to justify £110m MWEFAS project.
400 compulsory purchase orders - no problem to the NRA.
Datchet Parish Council excluded from planning application consultation.
I remember the promises from the experts at the MWEFAS Public Inquiry in October 1992.
Experts stated MWEFAS would have no significant effect on downstream villages.
Inquiry Inspector identified problems with optimistic hydraulic models.
MWEFAS cost-cutting commenced after construction contract placement.
The Jubilee River is sub-standard in design and construction - and was then mis-operated.
In January 2003, hundreds of homes downstream were flooded for the first time since 1947.
The Jubilee River itself suffered significant flood water damage and erosion.
Slough Weir fell apart (£630,000 to repair).
The Myrke embankment was on the verge of collapse and had to be dismantled and rebuilt (cost £1.3m)
The Government Minister refused to hold a Public Inquiry into 2003 flooding.
The EA road-show - spin and obfuscation paid from the public purse.
The FRAG created 2003 - reported in 2004 - orchestrated whitewash.
The TFF ran from 2004/7 - then EA withdrew funding.
Total £5m repair costs and a £2.75m out-of-court settlement with the designers.
The Jubilee River is still unable to carry its design capacity of 215 cumecs.
The EA have failed to implement the FRAG/TFF recommendations, in particular dredging.
The EA have nowhere to dispose of dredged material, which may be radioactive.
Still no agreed Jubilee River operating instructions.
Continuing problems at Black Potts weir - structure failure, submerged gauging and public footpath flooding.
The Jubilee River is now expected to compensate for additional structures at Romney that may restrict flood water flow.
The EA track record in engineering is well known, compounded by current skills shortage.
The EA have an unhealthy reliance on contractors.
The EA have now lost their Crown Immunity.
This is an EA money-making scheme using a national asset.
Renewable energy proposal therefore Government subsidised??
The EA still plan to make cost savings by dispensing with full-time lock keepers (the genuine river management experts)
This is a pilot project on a very high-profile site - just like the Jubilee River.
How will the local people benefit?
A planning application should be a consultation process, not just a submitted document.
This project is just the first of many.........
5/8/08 - Revolutionary plan to tap Thames power at Goring (Henley Standard)
This project is 50% larger than the previous application.
This project should be properly considered and determined by Public Inquiry.
Finally, yet again Datchet Parish Council (distance < 1 km from the scheme to the parish) has been excluded from the consultation process, as have all the other Parish and Town Councils downstream.
13/8/08 - Councillor 'disgust' at hydropower plan (Maidenhead Midweek)
Next page - Windsor hydropower project links
