EA Press release - sale of Lock Houses

[angelaquayle]

This is our verbatim press release as sent to the media (hence the format).

Environment Agency announces plans to reduce the number of lock houses along the Thames

The Environment Agency will sell 10 of its 57 houses for lock keepers, it announced today.

Of those remaining, a further 12 will be rented out after they were identified as not being needed for operational reasons.

The plans, which have been drawn up as part of an efficiency review, will reduce the amount of property the Environment Agency has to maintain.


Eileen McKeever, Thames Waterways Manager at the Environment Agency said: “We need to operate the river as efficiently as we can, making sure we are using public money wisely. We haven’t modernised this aspect of our work for a very long time and as part of wider review we have looked at whether we need all 57 lockhouses. The conclusion is that we do not need to keep them all.


“We will not be moving anyone out of a house until they have another suitable house to go to – we will not be making people homeless. But the fact is that we already manage the river with a significant number of our lock staff not living in Environment Agency property.


“Lockkeeper’s houses were originally provided when working hours were longer and before telephones and cars made communications and getting around as easy as they are today.


“But, as a public organisation, we need to justify the operational need for every property we wish to keep.


“We will still man locks to assist boaters with passage through the locks. In fact, we plan to have more staff on duty during the busiest times throughout the summer.


“And there will be no impact on how we manage flood risk - we will continue to operate weirs and manage water levels throughout the year as normal.”


In the past year the Environment Agency has spent £6.5m on improving the Thames as a waterway for people to enjoy. This includes increasing the number of automated locks and refurbishment and enhancement projects at various locks along the Thames.


Lockhouse residents affected by the changes have been informed of these plans, and the Environment Agency will work with them over the coming months and years to ensure that they are moved into suitable accommodation when it becomes available.


Eileen McKeever added: “We are aware that this is a very emotive issue for lockkeepers and their families, but we have been running the river in the same manner for 40 or 50 years, and we need to modernise our working practices. We have kept staff well informed of the work in progress and will continue to do so to help them through these changes.

Key:
* Not on the lockside
+ second of two houses on site.

The lockhouses identified as suitable for sale are:

Laburnam Rd, Oxford*
Boulters Gardens, Maidenhead *
Ray Mill Rd, Maidenhead *
Bell Weir, Staines
Penton Hook, Staines *
Thames Side, Chertsey *
Garth House, Rushey *+
Sunbury No. 2 *
Hailey Wood Farm Cottage *
Glade Rd, Marlow *

To retain and rent to 3rd parties:


Chalmore Hole Cottage, Wallingford*
Buscot *
Cookham
Godstow
Days Lock, Little Wittenham*
Shifford
Sandford, Oxford
Culham
Sunbury No. 1
St. Johns No.2 +
Blakes, Reading +
Old Windsor +

 

[Doolittle]

To not have permanent staffing at either Bell, Penton or Chertsey is just plain stupid.

It'll be a tremendous advantage to those moored at Penton Marina, knowing that they can now get as far as Old Windsor or Shepperton without a license.

 

[angelaquayle]

This is about housing, not whether there will be anyone on duty to check licences.

 

[No Regrets]

Thats astounding value for money then.

Our licence fee goes as far as paying for a tax collector, but one who is too lazy to work the locks then....

Wonderful. Well done. Have a pat on the back for you wonderful respect towards the boating community.

NOT! /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

With the increase in running costs via the festering governments tax increases, and your increase in river licence revenue, you would think the quality of the service provided could be at least maintained.

Not worsened. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

 

[apollo]

So if I have an emergency and run to a lock out of hours, wherease before I could bang on the door and get some help, now I am faced with a numptie who knows nothing about the river.

I am amazed that Health and Safety wont have a field day with this one, especially with all the flooding in the last couple of years!

The loonies have taken over the assylum.

Agree with others, would have been better to sack the top two layers of management and kept the people that actually understand how the river works.

 

[Phill]

Angela

Are we to assume that, as some of these houses to be sold off are located away from the locks, that the lock keepers will still be living in the lock houses beside the locks?

Also, Are all the keepers jobs secure and will all locks be manned?

Phill.

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

[ QUOTE ]
Angela

Are we to assume that, as some of these houses to be sold off are located away from the locks, that the lock keepers will still be living in the lock houses beside the locks?

Also, Are all the keepers jobs secure and will all locks be manned?

Phill.

[/ QUOTE ]

From the list, apparently not at Sunbury. The one next to the lock will be leased to a 3rd party and the other, byt the bridge to the lock island, sold.

 

[angelaquayle]

I've taken some bits of this from a briefing so sorry if the tone sounds a bit funny.

Are all the lockkeeper jobs secure?
We are working up proposals to restructure the department and hope to have a plan by the Autumn. Our current proposals are that we intend to employ additional seasonal staff during the boating season while retaining a reduced number of permanent staff during the winter months. This will provide better service by focusing our manning on the time of year when there is most boating activity while having sufficient staff to manage water levels and provide a somewhat reduced assisted passage service at locks in winter.

How did the houses end up on the list (will there still be housed lockkepers)?
We analysed the detailed information collected about each lock. Key issues were:
• Access;
• Costs of and implications for site/operational management;
• Water level management;
• Impact of conflict between new owners and staff/customers.

In general, if the house is on an island and/or access to it involves crossing the weir and/or lockgates, the assumption was against sale. We already have a policy to dispose of off-river houses: these are included in the list. Houses at a lock but distinctly separated from it by a public road were also identified as being suitable for sale.
There will be lockkeepers living at the remaining houses unless circumstances change.

Will the locks be manned?
As always, we try to have 365 day cover at all sites but can't always achieve it because of weir work, sickness and holidays. We still intend to man the river according to our service levels as much as we ever can.

 

[Ramage]

Thank you for posting this information Angela.

As you are no doubt aware, feelings are running high amongst boaters over the selling off of the housing.

Please dont take any of the comment personally. We don't want to shoot the messenger.

Just the chairman & chief executive.....


/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[DWT]

I tend to take a pragmatic view of these things (probably the nature of my job). Looking at the list most are away from the lockside or second properties which surely have little operational function.

Why should our licence fees be used to continue to maintain these properties if they are not needed? Sell then and reduce costs at the same time release some capital to contribute towards ongoing maintenance.

Now of course there may be practical issues which others will worry about, there is concern about whether lockkeepers will lose their homes and I am sure that some (many?) will think me terribly naive to believe that the money will be reinvested in something sensible or that there is not some other agenda behind all this.

Nevertheless the information has been presented clearly and I think there are more important things to worry about.

 

[jane1]

No, not all the lock keeper jobs are secure and there are several houses on the lock side that are to be rented out to 3rd parties or sold. It means you cannot be guaranteed help out of hours by knocking on the lock-keepers door.

 

[jane1]

Re: EA Press release - sale of Lock Houses *DELETED*

Post deleted by danfoley

 

[apollo]

I just cannot see how they can justify renting out Cookham lock house to a 3rd party?

The lock is quite cut off from the road having to cross the Odney property.

If an emergency occured with the weir, nobody including the lock keeper would be able to get to the house and the poor sods who rented it will be cut off.

Plain crazeeee and very short term thinking. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[oldgit]

"So if I have an emergency and run to a lock out of hours,"

Not sure this is good argument?
The rest of the inland waterways do manage to survive with only a 24 hour freephone number for comfort.

 

[apollo]

Canals dont flood in 5hours like the Thames did last July and that was with Lockies on site.

If the EA were a bit better at managing floods, it would not be such a big deal.

 

[oldgit]

Was not actually thinking about canals but other smaller rivers which are subject to the same run off problems from their surrounding catchment areas even though they obviously do not have anything like the same number of boats on them. .

 

[Captain Coochie]

I got stuck in old Windsor lock last year around 10 PM . I didnt think it was right to knock on the lock keepers door at that time of night as i was quite happy to bed down in the lock if i had to . Then i noticed on the lock keepers hut a 24 hour help line . I called it and got passed on to a lock smith /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[DWT]

Sorry hpr, I really do not want to make light of your circumstances and the worry about the possibility of losing your home. I am looking at this from an entirely commercial point of view.

 

[Captain Coochie]

But there is no point as i see it in selling the houses or renting them out as they are already paid for ( i assume )
Renting them out is more work as the EA will have to look after every detail where as the lock keeper does that as it is his home ( i assume again )
Selling them will be seen as a profit and reduce the amount the powers that be give them /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[apollo]

Yes, but from my recollection of the ATYC meetings, the largest expense that EA has, apart from Staff Salaries, is maintenance of the zillions of real estate they have.

Hence if they flog some of it off, they have less maintenance budget requirements.

Agree that the renting is a dumb idea though, at best its seasonal (I certainly would rent one in the depths of winter with the water up to the doorstep) and to be honest the weather has been a bag of sh#te last few years in the summer so I would rather rent a villa in Spain. I bet they end up selling all of them.