Gloucester & Sharpness Canal News

BW, at the April 2007 meeting of the Glos & Sharpness Canal and River Severn Users' Forum, announced possible changes to the traffic lights. Many boat users have had problems when passing a bridge on "green" to find rowing boats coming the other way. This especially applies at the high level bridges Sims, Rea and Sellars. The new proposal is that lights will normally be left "off", i.e. unilluminated. Craft will under these circumstances be able to procede with care. If a red (or green) light is shown, it must be obeyed by all craft, including rowing boats.

The proposals were confirmed by BW late in 2007.

After a long and sometimes rather fractious debate between users, the local branch of the IWA and BW, the old system of traffic lights was reinstated w.e.f. 2 March 2009. As a reminder, red means "stop", green means "go", and flashing red means that the bridge-keeper is aware of your presence so hang on until he's ready. If there's no light showing, proceed with care (if possible).

The lights should apply to all users - including rowers.

The first phase of the Gloucester Quays development is due to open on 9 May 2009. Watch this space for further news.

The new lift bridge linking the Peel Centre (Toys r Us, cinema complex) with the new developments on the west bank opened in Nov 2008. Air draft is about 4.5 m.

The repairs to Patch Bridge, scheduled for various dates over late 2007 - early 2008, were started in Jan 2009 are now being completed (Mar 2009). No boat traffic past the temporary bridge at Patch is possible. Re-opening is scheduled for some time before Easter 2009.

BW are installing new a DIY pumpout and Elsan disposal facility at Purton, new the dredging station. The DIY facility will use the standard £10 pre-paid cards (recently reduced in price!). Expected opening is September 2007.

The planned DIY operation of Parkend Bridge is currently postponed, fairly indefinitely.

L.P.Barnett, an enthusiastic historian, is organising a series of guided visits to the Purton Hulks throughout 2007. The hulks are barges of various sizes which were grounded between Purton and Sharpness in the early years of the 20th century to prevent erosion following a land-slip in 1909.

The walks take place on 27 May, 10 and 24 June, 8 and 22 July, 12 and 26 August, 9 and 23 September, and 14 and 28 October. No charge, but a collection is taken in aid of the Cotswold Canal Trust and SARA. The walks start at 14:00 at Purton Lower Bridge and take about 2 hours.

We did the tour a few weeks ago and very interesting it is. There are over eighty boats in various stages of decay, with many of them having been identified.

L P Barnett can be contacted on 07833 143231.

In 2006 BW announced their intention to make major changes to the manning of the bridges on the Gloucester- Sharpness Canal. The intention was to reduce the costs of keeping a large number of strucutres open during the winter months when usage is low. BW's position was that the the need for cost savings was not driven by the DEFRA cuts, but was compounded by them and made inevitable. The proposals would have involved pre-booking passages and were met with users with a great deal of hostility.

Following many representations to BW, and an open meeting attended by nearly 400 people, a group of concerned users was convened to meet with BW in order to help reach an acceptable solution.

The outcome of the meeting in summary was that the waterway would be closed for non-commercial users on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during the winter months (1 November to Easter). During "open" days, manning would be maintained as in recent years, i.e. one bridge-keeper would often operate two structures. Action would be taken to progressively make suitable structures user-operated. A timed passage scheme would apply to the locks on the River Severn, where winter usage is generally very low.

Several bridges were earmarked for user operation. There has been no real progress on this, despite many false starts.

The text of BW's plans is posted separately here.

Three BW documents describing in more detail the proposals for the new opening and manning arrangements on the G&S are linked from here:

The first document is BW's announcement of the new arrangements:

http://www.glos-sharpness.org.uk/G&S%20Blogspot%20docs/Final%20Consultation%20Conclusion.pdf

A diagram summarising the bridge and lock manning arrangements is here:

http://www.glos-sharpness.org.uk/G&S%20Blogspot%20docs/Manning%20Structure%20Diagram.pdf

BW's FAQs relating to the new arrangements are here: (note that this file is over 4 MB):

http://www.glos-sharpness.org.uk/G&S%20Blogspot%20docs/Manning%20FAQ.pdf