The Environment Agency started to dredge the River Chess at Scotsbridge Mill in the last week of January in the hope of reducing flood risk.
The River Chess Association (RCA) believed from the start that such an expensive (£300,000) and invasive procedure would achieve little.
“The river channel around Scotsbridge Mill is manmade, created to deliver a reliable flow of water for the mill. The mill has not operated for 70 years and little has been done to maintain the banks over that time. This has left them in a fragile state and at times of heavy rain the banks are breached. If maintenance and repair work is not undertaken the river will find its way back to its natural channel. ” says Paul Jennings, Chairman, RCA.
The dredging has mobilised high levels of sediment polluting the River Chess downstream of Scotsbridge Mill. Two fisheries – Croxley hall and Elms were affected by this activity.
The project had expected to remove 3000 tons of silt but stopped after only 700 tons had been removed. The early end to this project has limited the damaged done downstream, which was welcomed by the RCA.
“We would hope that the money saved could be put to good use in finding a sustainable solution to flood risk in this area of the River Chess” says Paul, “A better short term solution would be to lower the weir at the mill or the side sluices and repair the banks. To my mind the flood risk here is still an issue and silting will reoccur. We also see issues relating to fish migration and the channel of the river. We are keen to meet with the EA to discuss how all these issues can be resolved.”
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