COMPLETION of a £1 million scheme to repair the sluice gates at Denver and avoid silt building up there has been welcomed by South West Norfolk MP Christopher Fraser.
He is hoping it will help to alleviate the affects of heavy flooding in the Ouse Washes, particularly around Welney, where only last week the A1101 Wash Road was again closed through flooding.
The Environment Agency project, which began in Septemb
er 2007, involved cladding the three sets of timber V-shaped doors on the Little Eye sluices with marine plywood on their downstream tidal faces, extending their working life by five to ten years.
Money for the scheme, which has also involved installing air-jetting equipment to keep silt away from the gates, came from a £19 million Government budget for flood defence work in the Anglian region.
An agency spokesman explained: “This system will use compressed air to disturb any silt that builds up in front of the timber ‘V’ doors. With this system in place the Environment Agency will be able to quickly return the doors to proper use as soon as the river water levels allow.”
Mr Fraser said: “I have been calling for repair work to be carried out on Denver Sluice for three years now, so I welcome the news that this work has now been completed.
“I also welcome the experimental air injection system that has been put in place and I very much hope that this will overcome the huge problems that have in recent years resulted from the build-up of silt by the sluice doors.”
The MP said residents and businesses in that part of his constituency had “suffered year upon year” because of ineffective local flood defences.
Flood alleviation measures upstream meant that the River Great Ouse overflowed during particularly wet months and, in the past, the A1101 had been flooded for more than 100 days. “This is not acceptable,” he said.
Mr Fraser will continue working with the Environment Agency, Norfolk County Council, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the local community to ensure a long-term solution can be found to the closure of the Wash Road.
“I know that many of those affected by the flooding believe the road should be raised in order to solve this problem once and for all. It is up to the Government to unlock the necessary funding so that our local authorities can address this issue accordingly,” he said.
The agency spokesman said it was hoped the Denver scheme would help to reduce the frequency of flooding on the A1101, “but it won’t just stop it suddenly”.
mike.last@
lynnnews.co.uk
The full article contains 449 words and appears in Lynn News Tuesday newspaper.
