Thames Funding

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robinborton

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I believe it costs roughly £20 million annually to run the Thames The weirs cost £10 million which is funded by Flood Defences and £4 million comes from licenses and the £6 million defecit is funded by the government ....feel free to correct my numbers.
Does anyone know how much the water companies like Thames Water contribute?
Why haven't the EA done something about generating electricity from the 50 odd weirs they are responsible for .... they must have considered it.
When the Charitable Trust takes over in a couple of years have we had any reassurances that the Thames will receive at least current levels of funding and current levels of service and maintenance.
 
robinborton said:
I believe it costs roughly £20 million annually to run the Thames The weirs cost £10 million which is funded by Flood Defences and £4 million comes from licenses and the £6 million defecit is funded by the government ....feel free to correct my numbers.
Does anyone know how much the water companies like Thames Water contribute?
Why haven't the EA done something about generating electricity from the 50 odd weirs they are responsible for .... they must have considered it.
When the Charitable Trust takes over in a couple of years have we had any reassurances that the Thames will receive at least current levels of funding and current levels of service and maintenance.
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I doubt you could generate enough electricity at a weir to be cost effective.
Ardnacrush power station in Ireland has a 100ft drop, powering up to 4 turbines that produce only a small fraction of Irelands power requirements - and when all 4 turbines are running the river is not navigable.
 
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I believe two Thames weirs have been earmarked for hydro electric generation studies. I beleive one was in the Windsor area, which had the Dukes interest, and the other I believe was Goring. I would guess it would take some time to cover initial construction costs let alone turning a profit after ongoing maintenance is taken into account.
 
robinborton said:
I believe it costs roughly £20 million annually to run the Thames The weirs cost £10 million which is funded by Flood Defences and £4 million comes from licenses and the £6 million defecit is funded by the government ....feel free to correct my numbers.
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Your figures are broadly in line with my information but might be more simply expressed as direct revenue approx 25% government funding contributions in all forms approx 75%.

The Annual Report for 2011/12 shows that total navigation income was £10.4million of which approx £4million was boat registration and other navigation related revenue (moorings etc) and government grant was approx£5.5million.

The key issue is that the overall scale of the problem of funding could, in present day terms, be described as a petty cash issue. The funding for flood control is not an issue as far as I can see - certainly not one affecting navigation related costs. £10 million pounds a year is really a very small amount of money when considered against the billions of pounds spent in general government expenditure. However, in todays climate, that £5.5 million of government expenditure on something that could be funded from other sources is under considerable pressure!
Does anyone know how much the water companies like Thames Water contribute?
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Not exactly, but my estimate is that it is no more than about £1 million in total of the £5 or so revenue income.
Why haven't the EA done something about generating electricity from the 50 odd weirs they are responsible for .... they must have considered it.
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Romney has already been mentioned and I seem to recall that there are other schemes in the melting pot. Howver, ther is no guarantee that any income from this would find itself allocated directly against navigation costs.
Also, such projects carry with them major up front investment costs which have to be found from somewhere.
When the Charitable Trust takes over in a couple of years have we had any reassurances that the Thames will receive at least current levels of funding and current levels of service and maintenance.
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I am not aware of any specific indications as to how such a transfer might actually take place and certainly am not aware of any assurances, let alone reassurances, relating to additional levels of government funding to C&RT IF, repeat IF, such a transfer takes place.
As i understand it, current levels of funding to C&RT following its creation fall well short of the annual grant in aid support which previously benefited BW.
 
Any hints or speculation as to where the missing millions to keep the Thames going "as is" at the moment will come from or will there have to be dramatic changes due to funds simply not being available to support the current Rolls Royce lifestyle so envied by the other 99% of the inland boating world.
Was hoping that we here on the Medway could also could have a lock keeper at every lock, as it would appear that only a minor increase in the Medway licence would fund this if the slightly higher Thames licence fee is any guide ?
This would greatly increase the chance of boaters of more advancing years (such as myself) using the river.
 
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Quote:
Does anyone know how much the water companies like Thames Water contribute?

Not exactly, but my estimate is that it is no more than about £1 million in total of the £5 or so revenue income.
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What about increasing the registration fee by 25% and withdrawing the facility from the water companies and then see how much they are prepared to pay for it.
 
Forbsie said:
What about increasing the registration fee by 25% and withdrawing the facility from the water companies and then see how much they are prepared to pay for it.
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The water companies do pay to abstract water from the Thames. Not sure how much but its quite a bit.

CJL
 
Many licences to extract were issued a long time ago,think there is an ongoing review to revoke some but the owners of the licences have to be paid compensation.
Water extraction,be it for domestic or farming is seriously reducing the ability for the Thames (and other watercourses) to flow.
Many springs along the base of the North Downs have simply ceased to exist due to over extraction and more are reduced to a shadow of their former selves.
We desperately need more rainwater storage in the Southeast to prevent the use of rivers being used as a backup in times of drought,will the polititians ignore the NIMBYS next time round ?
 
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C&RT and JustGiving initiative

Interesting development in charity fundraising by C&RT in conjunction with JustGiving.
IF Thames gets transferred into the C&RT the this might mean donations could be specifically targeted at Thames funding?
The other major opportunity that comes with the charitable trust approach is that people will be able to benefit the waterways by bequests in their wills
 
The other major opportunity that comes with the charitable trust approach is that people will be able to benefit the waterways by bequests in their wills[/QUOTE]



Unless we get a really good pandemic of Flu this winter,a rather uncertain source of funds perhaps ?
All mine is going to the local Lesbian/Gay/Trotskyites/FendersDown Freedom Party.
 
oldgit said:
The other major opportunity that comes with the charitable trust approach is that people will be able to benefit the waterways by bequests in their wills
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Unless we get a really good pandemic of Flu this winter,a rather uncertain source of funds perhaps ?
All mine is going to the local Lesbian/Gay/Trotskyites/FendersDown Freedom Party.[/QUOTE]

On the bandwagon again! :)
 
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