One river - two stories - or are they the same?

[boatone]

River Thames News arrived in my inbox this evening with two headline stories:

"Thames still rising": http://www.riverthamesnews.com/News314.html

and "Union claims 90 Thames lock keepers jobs to be cut": http://www.riverthamesnews.com/News315.html

We are painfully aware of the river levels but where have all those lock keepers been hiding?

 

[Chris_d]

45 locks on the river last time I counted
I do think they need a better argument though, flooding is in the hands of God.

 

[oldgit]

Was always under the impression that funding was being cut for DEFRA/EA etc.
Saw ex Bullington Club member Mr D Cameron state on our local TV (ref Yalding) that more money was being spent in this area than the previous administration.
Who is telling fibs ?
EA or PM .

 

[TrueBlue]

I suspect flood relief comes from a separate budget at a different level/
Defra maybe before it gets to EA.

Plenty of scope to massage reporting.

 

[Brayman]

We used to have Lock Keepers, now we have Lock and Weir Keepers, soon we will have just Weir keepers, still living in the same houses and doing the same job, just under adifferent title

 

[boatone]

I suspect flood relief comes from a separate budget at a different level/
Defra maybe before it gets to EA.

No, as I understand it Defra agree department budgets with Treasury. Then Defra agree internal budgets with own departments of which EA is one. At present Flood and Coastal Risk Management (FCRM) and Navigation are both sectors within EA regional management which then agree relevant allocations to local areas. Regions are now disappearing and its not yet clear how it will work in future. EA South East Region currently includes Medway, Rye Harbour and East Anglia as well as Thames.
Its further complicated as Navigation generates income - licence fees etc - whereas FCRM doesn't.
Bottom line appears to be that FCRM and Navigation have to fight each other for share of funding.

 

[oldgit]

As in house staff are got rid off, the private sector is supposed to take up the slack.

Chum of mine works for UK power networks was SeeBoard etc eons ago, they have been getting rid of staff for years, hiring many back as private contractors and using them as and when.
When they had all the problems with power outages around mid Kent and Yalding recently ,there simply no staff to call on to sort the problem quickly.

 

[boatone]

We used to have Lock Keepers, now we have Lock and Weir Keepers, soon we will have just Weir keepers, still living in the same houses and doing the same job, just under adifferent title

In the beginning there were weirs. Locks were then invented to permit boats to get through the weirs.

The lockies have, as far as I know, been officially termed Lock and Weir Keeping staff for many a year. However, it would appear that the EA may be beginning to question how much time they spend "weir keeping" and how much "lock keeping" and it wouldn't surprise me if "lock keeping" duties are considered less essential than flood control.

As for them still living in the same houses only time will tell but I wouldn't bet on it ........

 

[oldgit]

As for them still living in the same houses only time will tell but I wouldn't bet on it ........

Personally hoping that the recent events may have given them pause for thought regards cuts.