TALK of the THAMES
THE MAGAZINE OF THAMES ESTUARY PARTNERSHIP
Winter 2012
Getting close to The Estuary
My Estuary
Germaine Greer
Anniversary 40th
Fishery Experiment
TEP Annual
Forum
NEWS - MCZCONSULTATION
Marine Conservation
Zones – Have your say
The UK has one of the world’s
richest marine environments and
is home to a huge variety of
animals and plants, ranging from
whales and dolphins to sponges
and sea anemones. However,
pressures from commercial and
leisure activities have caused a
decline in the number of species
and damaged some of our most
important marine habitats.
To play a part in halting this decline
the Government plans to designate Marine
Conservation Zones next year to contribute to a
network of marine protected areas. As part of the
process, the Department for Environment, Food
and Rural Affairs (Defra) will shortly be launching
a public consultation outlining the proposed sites.
Many years of overfishing have reduced some
of our fish stocks and some of these have now
reached critically low levels. The numbers of
certain species such as the European eel and the
spiny lobster for example have declined
significantly. Our UK waters are also home to the
short and long snouted seahorses which are
unique in the animal kingdom in that it is the
male seahorse that carries the developing young.
These species may be sensitive to damage done
by boat anchor chains dragging through the sea
grass. The proposed Marine Conservation Zones
will help to ensure that these and many other
important species don’t become
extinct, reduced to small
populations or reduced to
isolated areas.
Protecting wildlife and habitats
in the seas is just as important
as those on land. Currently only
a small number of our
UK waters are protected for
marine conservation but we need
to do more. Establishing Marine
Conservation Zones will ensure that
our amazingly varied marine life will be
preserved for future generations. A real effort to
strengthen the scientific evidence base for the
proposed Marine Conservation Zone sites has
been made to ensure that this is as robust as
possible. England’s first Marine Conservation Zone,
Lundy Island, which is situated off the north Devon
coast in the Bristol Channel, has clearly shown that
putting a key area of the sea under special protection
can have many great benefits. The waters around
Lundy Island now have a thriving lobster and grey
seal population and it is the only place in the UK
where five cup corals exist together.
As an island nation responsible for a sea area
which is three times larger than its land surface a
healthy and wildlife-rich marine environment which
can be enjoyed by everyone is important. Our
plans for Marine Conservation Zones will be a key
element to achieving this.
You will shortly be able to take part in the public consultation and provide any
further evidence by visiting the Defra website at
www.defra.gov.uk/consult
Key benefits of Marine Conservation Zones:
a MCZs will contribute to providing nursery fish stocks
a MCZs will help us to protect a wide range of representative
and rare wildlife and habitats in our waters
a MCZs will contribute to better catches for fishermen in
surrounding waters
2
TALK of the THAMES
INTHISEDITION
TEP Contacts
Jill Goddard
Chief Executive
[email protected]
35
Susan Harrington
Office Manager
[email protected]
SPECIAL FEATURES
My Estuary –
Germaine Greer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8/9
1953 North Sea Storm . . . . 20/21
40th Fishery Experiment . . . 32/33
8-9
Adam Guy
Special Projects
Editor Talk of the Thames
[email protected]
Amy Pryor
Project Coordinator,
Your Tidal Thames
[email protected]
Jo Roche
Project Officer, Greater Thames Marshes
Biodiversity Officer, City Bridge Trust
[email protected]
Working with you for
the sustainable future of
our Estuary
Thames Estuary
Partnership
UCL Environment Institute, G13
Pearson Building, Gower Street
London WC1E 6BT
t. 020 7679 0540
e. [email protected]
w. www.thamesweb.com
Become a Friend of TEP!
See the form with this magazine or apply
online at www.thamesweb.com
The Thames Estuary Partnership receives core
funding and support from:
NEWS
MCZ Consultation . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
TEP News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Estuary News . . . . . . . . . . . . 4/5/6
Thames Learning Group . . . . . . . . 7
City Bridge Trust . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
TE2100 Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
TEP Annual Forum . . . . . . . 22/23
Wallasea Island . . . . . . . . . . 28/29
Dredging Liaison Group . . . . . . . 34
Southend Silt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
SuDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38/39
REGULARS
View from the Bridge . . . . . . . . . 10
View from the Engine Room . . . 11
Paul Gilson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Features
Houseboat Gardens . . . . . . . . . . . 19
River Crossings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Deptford Dockyard . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Isle of Grain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36/37
Southend Oysters . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Coastal Partnership Network . . 30
40-41
31
Other support comes via project grants,
through event sponsorship, and from Friends
of TEP.
The Thames Estuary Partnership is a registered charity no. 1083199
and a company limited by guarantee no. 3807387.
Talk of the Thames is published twice a year
in May and November. We welcome your
editorial comments and contributions. If you
have a suggestion for an article, please contact
the Editor. Offers of sponsorship also welcome.
Design and print:
DG3 Group on paper from sustainable sources.
© Thames Estuary Partnership
PROJECTS
Nature Improvement Area . 14/15
Your Tidal Thames (WFD) . 16/17
Archaeology MOLA . . . . . . . . . 18
Open House . . . . . . . . . . . . 40/41
EVENTS
Where’s Jill? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
TALK of the THAMES
3
REGULARS - NEWS
Welcome!
TEP News
From Jill Goddard, Executive Director, Thames Estuary
Partnership (TEP)
Welcome to the Winter 2012
edition of Talk of the Thames
– a time of reflection on a
busy Olympic year for the
Thames, including the Thames
Diamond Jubilee Pageant in
June; one of the largest and
most complex event ever to
be staged on the Thames.
Our Annual Stakeholder
Forum took place on
Wednesday 14th November 2012 and
the summary of the event Q& A
sessions are included in this edition
and on our website. This edition also
carried details of all our sponsors
whose financial support has enabled us
to run the Forum and cover the costs
of this winter ‘Forum’ edition of Talk of
the Thames. If you are a much
appreciated “Friend of TEP” you will
have been offered a reduced
conference rate, and many of you
attended our Friends ‘Pimms on the
Portico” event on 12th July which was
very well attended.
We at TEP also have much to celebrate
with another new project in progress.
The City Bridge Trust, the City
of London Corporation’s
charity, have funded a new
Biodiversity role.This will
compliment the Greater
Thames Marshes national
pilot for landscape scale
biodiversity improvement –
the full article and the map of
the area covered are detailed
in this magazine. This new
project is designed to work well with
other key policy drivers such as the
Water Framework Directive and the
Thames Estuary 2100 flood risk habitat
planning.
The joint venture with Thames21 is
nearing the end of Phase 1 – the Pilot
year on “Your Tidal Thames”. We both
want to work with others to do more
with this approach in the future and will
be having discussions through the winter.
Finally, I want to thank our sponsors for
their support and whose work you can
learn more about in this magazine.
Jill Goddard, Executive Director,
Thames Estuary Partnership (TEP)
Jo Roche
Jo joined us in Spring 2012 as the
Project Management Officer for the
Greater Thames Marshes NIA
Project. From this Winter she will
also work on the Biodiversity Project.
Jo has a BSc in Zoology, an MSc in
Marine Ecology and Environmental
Management, and has worked on
various projects at ZSL including
elver monitoring and the Cetacean
Stranding Investigation Programme.
Zay Soe
Zay has been working with us as
Finance Officer since the Summer
of 2012.
His focus is on ensuring that TEP
financial systems and transactions are
current and that the budget is always
under control.
Tom Handley
Tom is fresh out of university having
graduated from UCL this Summer
with a Masters in Conservation.
He is helping with the ‘Your Tidal
Thames’ Water Framework Directive
Pilot Project.
“Reviewing past Thames Estuary
management strategies has been a
challenging but rewarding experience
and hopefully my work will further
the success of the project.”
EstuaryNews
Southend Erosion
4
TALK of the THAMES
Illustration Courtesy of:TEP Photo
In November 2012, the Environment Agency
announced the formation of a working group to
investigate concerns that Southend’s foreshore has
been eroding.
The foreshore is an important commercial and leisure
area and an internationally recognised feeding area for
wading birds. Recently concerns have been raised that
excessive erosion is occurring (See pp 34/35 this issue)
whilst others report that this is normal periodic variation.
The Environment Agency carries out level
measurements every 500m along the Southend frontage
and transects of up to 1,400m across the foreshore. This
information has been collected since 1992. The Agency
also monitors the extent of the sea-grass beds off
Two Tree Island and at Leigh and Maplin Sands.
The working group comprises the Environment
Agency, Southend Borough Council, Natural England and
the Port of London Authority, and will consider the large
amount of monitoring information from contributing
bodies that has been collected over the years.
Southend foreshore
NEWS - ESTUARYNEWS
Illustration Courtesy of: www.floodzonenyc.com
New York Flood
New York City flood zones
On the morning of Tuesday 30th October
2012 New Yorkers were surveying the
damage in the wake of a record tidal
surge caused by Hurricane Sandy and
planners began to reconsider
infrastructural investment in raised walls
or storm surge barriers similar to those
installed along the Thames in the 1980s.
In the US New York is second only to
New Orleans for the number of people
living less than four feet above high tide
(200,000) and 11% of the population of
eight million live in the flood risk zone.
With a 520 mile coast and a commercial
centre only a few feet above sea level
that relies on a massive underground
infrastructure there are few large-scale
publicly funded flood-defence structures.
Mayor Bloomberg has been exhaustive
in commissioning both research and
innovative wetland creation schemes but
there has long been criticism that the city
plans more ‘to be flooded’ than to defend.
Projected waterfront development plans
dismiss any notion of retreat from the
shoreline since an additional million
residents are anticipated over the next
few decades and land is at a premium.
La Guardia airport, built on
reclaimed land, was closed. Subway
tunnels filled with water, electrical
substations exploded as salt water
flooded switches, and fires destroyed
whole neighbourhoods. Many residents
who had resisted calls for evacuation
were amazed at the speed of surge rise
and had not understood the dangers of
cold, fast moving, and debris-ridden
water, exacerbated by very high winds
and large-scale power outages.
Whilst international media attention
was focussing on the financial centre in
Manhattan, particularly hard-hit were
partly reclaimed Staten Island, with its
extensive low-rise poor quality housing,
the neighbouring New Jersey port, and
areas of large industrial waterfronts in
Queens and Brooklyn. Five of New
York’s wastewater treatment plants are
in low-lying areas and cleaning up
sewage, oil, debris and water-borne
sludge will take months, if not years.
Contracts awarded by the City already
run to billions of dollars.
Other developments in USA to
counter flooding include shoreline
developments in San Francisco, permeable
pavements in Chicago, and salt-marsh
developments in Maryland. The NY Office
for Long-Term Planning and Sustainability
has stressed that ‘a million small changes
need to happen.’
The rate of invasion of the River Thames
by non-native species is accelerating.
Michelle Jackson and Jonathan Grey of
Queen Mary University, London studied
records since 1800 and compared these
with population sizes and shipping
volumes to conclude that the Thames
catchment is among the most highly
invaded freshwater systems in the world.
The authors identified ninety six
freshwater species that had become
established in the Thames catchment.
Species were considered aquatic if they
live within freshwater ecosystems for at
least part of their life cycle, and
established if they had maintained an
active breeding population for more
than one generation. Many of the
invasive species are inconspicuous
parasites or smaller species, but the
Illustration Courtesy of: Florin Feneru - Natural History Museum
Invasive
Species
Corbicula fulminea
largest groups are fish and plants.
Around 40% of non-indigenous species
are native to North America.
53% of species had become
established over only the last 50 years
(since 1961), and 55% were intentionally
introduced for agricultural, fishery, or
ornamental reasons. The authors
conclude that many invaders were
probably released accidentally, often
hitching a ride in ship ballast water. Since
these species comprise over 72% of the
national freshwater total, the Thames
might be the original source of many
non-indigenous invaders in the UK.
Invasive species cost us £1.7 billion a
year and the rate of introduction appears
to be rising despite recent legislation. The
Water Framework Directive requires
‘good ecological status’ by 2015 and
invasive species constitute a significant
threat to meeting these targets.
TALK of the THAMES
5
NEWS - ESTUARYNEWS
Illustration Courtesy of: Foster + Partners
Airports Commission
Thames Hub Airport
Airport operators and airlines are
clamouring for increased capacity. In
November 2012, the government
appointed former Financial Services
Authority chair Sir Howard Davies to
lead a commission investigating options
for increased airport capacity in the
London region. The commission aims
to ensure that London retains its pre-
eminence as a European air transport
hub. Opinion divides over creation of a
new Estuary airport site, for which
several options have been developed,
versus expansion of runway capacity in
existing airports.
Sir Howard Davies has promised an
interim report at the end of 2013 and
publication of the full results in May
Blueprint for water
Sixteen leading environmental organisations have criticised
the government’s handling of water in a November 2012
report. They claim that it took the wettest summer on
record to avoid serious drought this year and warned of
The group outline a 10 step
Blueprint for water:
1. Waste less water – reduce water
consumption by 20%
2. Keep our rivers flowing and
wetlands wet – revisit water
abstraction licences
3. Price water fairly – household
bills should match usage
4. Make polluters pay – more
5.
6.
7.
2016, one month after the next general
election. Criticism that this timing is a
political delaying tactic is countered by
Howard Davies who stresses his aims
to produce a cutting-edge piece of
research based on robust evidence that
will result in consensus around
the eventual solution. Aviation he says
is vital to the UK economy.
future problems. The group wants to see more use made of
moors, marshes and plants to help store and clean rainwater.
The government responds that its draft Water Bill will
build resilience in the UK water infrastructure. The draft bill
aims to reduce red tape, make it easier for the water
companies to work together, and create the conditions that
encourage innovation and reduce water demand.
effective enforcement and penalties
Stop pollutants contaminating our
water – introduce targeted
regulations
Keep sewage out of homes and
rivers, and off beaches – upgrade
sewage systems
Support water-friendly farming –
help farmers through advice,
training and payments
8. Clean-up drainage from
roads and buildings – construct
modern systems to intercept
run-off
9. Restore rivers from source to sea
– regeneration in partnership with
local communities
10.Retain water on floodplains and
wetlands – create habitats, and
reduce flooding
The Blueprint Coalition published its scorecard in November 2012 rating achievement since 2010:
www.blueprintforwater.org.uk
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TALK of the THAMES
NEWS - THAMESLEARNINGGROUP
ACTIONGROUPS
New TLG website launches soon
Illustration Courtesy of: TLG
New website architecture will now make it even easier for teachers and others to
find activities and information along the course of the entire River Thames.
The new TLG website
The Thames Learning Group exists to
encourage schools and family learning
on and around the River Thames. We all
know how rich the range of opportunities are including environment, history,
inspiration and yet equally many of us
have been frustrated over the years by
the lack of awareness, particularly in
schools, of the amazing possibilities that
exist on the doorstep.
During the summer of 2012, Thames
Water agreed to meet the costs of a
redesign and re-launch of the Thames
Learning Group website and this is
now online and being populated by the
members, who together have over a
hundred sites from source to estuary.
These include large and small charities
and organisations including the RSPB,
Historic Royal Palaces, Royal Museums
Greenwich, Docklands Museum, River
& Rowing Museum, Reading Museum,
Westminster Boating Base, Thames
Estuary Partnership, River Thames Boat
Project and Thames Explorer Trust.
The Thames Learning Group is
co-chaired by Jill Goddard, Chief
Executive of TEP and Paul Mainds,
Trustee & Chief Executive of the River &
Rowing Museum. It has been supported
since its inception by both the Port of
London Authority and the Environment
Agency. The first website was produced
with funding from the Big Lottery and
•
The site is designed as a portal which will enable teachers to search by
location using a Google map system or by subject based on National
Curriculum Key Stage and workshop names to identify the most suitable
opportunities for their school visits.
• Members are invited to maintain their own core information pages
through an easy to use content management system. The information is
then displayed in a standardised format allowing teachers easy access.
•
The overall look and feel has been a key element of the design to ensure
not only its user friendliness but above all to reflect the inspiration that
we all know the river can provide. Changing images, use of video and a
thoroughly modern look are all benefits that we can appreciate in the design.
experience gained through that has
ensured that the new website will be of
enormous benefit to teachers
throughout the Thames catchment.
Cookie Scottorn at the River &
Rowing Museum in Henley is
coordinating the non-tidal members
above Teddington and Sue Harrington
at TEP is liaising with the tidal group.
Any readers interested in exploring the
work of the group are encouraged to
contact either Cookie or Sue as there
is no limit on those organisations that
may join as members. Equally there is
currently no annual fee!
While the immediate priority of the
website is targeted at teachers, during
2013 it is hoped that an increasing
number of downloadable materials will
be made available, initially for teachers
and ultimately pupils and eventually
more for family learning.
TLG Website launch is planned
for 14 January 2013.
Contact details:
Above Teddington Lock:
Cookie Scottorn - [email protected]
Tidal Thames Contact:
Sue Harrington - [email protected]
TALK of the THAMES
7
SPECIALFEATURES - MYESTUARY
My Thames is mud
Illustration Courtesy of: GG Office
Not everyone will know that Professor Germaine Greer has had a long
involvement with the Thames in Essex, including a passionate advocacy of
protection for invertebrates. She tells TOTT why.
Germaine Greer
Germaine Greer was born in Melbourne and educated
in Australia and at Cambridge University. Her first book,
The Female Eunuch (1969), took the world by storm and
remains one of the most influential texts of the feminist
movement. Germaine Greer has had a distinguished
academic career in Britain and the USA. She makes
regular appearances in print and other media as a
broadcaster, journalist, columnist and reviewer. Since 1988
she has been Director (and financier) of Stump Cross
Books, a publishing house specialising in lesser-known
works by early women writers.
My concern, as President of Buglife, which exists to support
the 97% of earthly species that are invertebrates, is to
protect and enhance the biodiversity of all habitats, including
the very special environments that together constitute the
Thames Estuary. Since 1985 I have been an Essex girl, and
my concern is particularly for those least glamorous parts
of the estuary that are Essex. The two come together in
that Buglife first came to my notice as champions of the
struggle to prevent development of an abandoned industrial
site on Canvey Island, that was home to as many species as
would be found in a rainforest.
Since 2005 Buglife, a member of the Thames Estuary
8
TALK of the THAMES
Partnership, has been running its ‘All of a buzz in the
Thames gateway’ project which seeks to alert more and
more people to the threats to the vast range of creatures
that live and thrive in the kinds of brownfield sites that are
the first to be targeted for development. Buglife fought for
years to save the West Thurrock Marshes from being turned
into a mail sorting centre and lorry park, and ultimately lost,
apparently because British conservation legislation is too
weak to be effective. Since then the open mosaic habitat
created by the power station fly ash lagoons has remained
undisturbed, probably because the developers have decided
to wait for an improvement in the economy. The threat
remains. If you care what happens to the Brown-banded
Carder Bee and the Distinguished Jumping Spider, join us.
After I was asked to take part in a project for the
Antwerp Book Fair and chose the topic ‘Brown’, I devoted a
few wintry weekends to walking the brownfield sites from
Beckton to Southend and fell in love with the mudscapes of
Mucking and Holehaven. Among the wild life that flourished
amid the ruins of dead industry were the kids on their trail
bikes who risked life and limb to try their skills far from the
eyes of parents and the law. I wondered if we could recruit
them to guard the orchids and the bats of Canvey Wick.
This is my Thames. My Thames is the brown intertidal
zone. My Thames is mud. Though mud is a Biodiversity
Action Plan priority habitat, it is everywhere under threat.
Buyers of costly housing in the new riverside
developments along the Thames can hardly want to look
out over the hectares of stinking mud that are laid bare
twice a day by the receding tides, but mud is what is needed
for a truly healthy estuary. Once upon a time Londoners
loved their mud; they came downriver to bury themselves
in it, convinced that it was good for them. These days you
pay a fortune to be daubed with mud in a spa; in the old
days you hopped on a coach to Sarf End and got the same
thing free. The mudscape is dynamic, different at every hour
of the day, every week of the year. Birds from thousands of
miles away come to Thames mud as a rich larder that will
help replenish their fat stores for the long migration.
Though soft sediments are the least studied of marine
environments, they are among the most important.
Eelgrasses need soft sediment to grow in, as well as high
light levels and reduced wave action. A wasting disease
virtually wiped out the Thames estuary eelgrass beds in the
1930s; they have since partially recovered and could recover
further, if people who used the estuary realised how
important they were. During summer, in shallow water
easily warmed by the sun, eel grass flourishes, and with it a
whole suite of animals that rely on it, from single-celled
diatoms to stalked jellyfish and anemones; in a year an acre
of shallows can produce twice as much vegetation as an
acre of ploughland. As the water grows colder with the
Illustration Courtesy of: RSPB Images - Eleanor Bentall
SPECIALFEATURES - MYESTUARY
Canvey Mudflats
change of seasons the marine vegetation dies and sinks to
the bottom where it becomes mud. At the lower level, in
the black mud where there is no oxygen, bacteria work on
the organic matter, converting it to smelly gases, hydrogen
sulphide, ammonia, methane and hydrogen. As these
products seep upwards other bacteria convert them to
energy. The 17 billion bacteria in every square centimetre of
the oxygenated surface layer are food for dedicated
nematode worm species, up to five million animals per
square metre, and as many as fifty species in a single
spadeful of mud.
Sand fleas, copepods, isopods, tiny crabs and shrimps use
their hairy mouthparts to comb worms and ciliates out of
the tidewater. These creatures feed a vast range of other
species from lobsters to whales. Winkles and other sea
snails feed on the biofilm that forms on the surface of mud,
as well as on marine algae (about which we know next to
nothing). Winkles shed capsules containing as many as
100,000 fertilised eggs that hatch into free-swimming larvae,
providing another rich food source for other species. Since
prehistoric times human beings have eaten vast quantities of
sea-snails but if today’s Londoners use winkles at all it’s
probably for bait perhaps because for generations the
Thames was so heavily polluted that the estuary shellfish
were not fit for human consumption. In the estuary these
days hand-picking of winkles is the only kind of harvest
permitted, and then only in months with an R in them.
Concern for their long-term survival does not extend to
cockles. Cockles are taken from the sands of the estuary by
dredging, which cannot leave immature animals undisturbed.
Here again we have reason to be grateful to the mud.
Cockles that colonise mud have a chance to come to
maturity and to spawn.
Mussels and oysters feed on the micro-organisms
nurtured in the mud, as do baby fish. When a fisherman
called Outing discovered in 1700 that the waters off
Southend were an ideal breeding ground for oysters, it was
because of the richness of the invertebrate population.
Native oysters were a staple food for even the poorest
people for two hundred years, together with the tons of
whitebait, sprats, prawns and shrimps brought ashore by the
bawleys. The seafront from Southend to Leigh-on-Sea was
dotted with sheds where a few pence would buy shellfish
collected that day and freshly boiled. If we manage the
estuary properly this happy state of affairs might return, but
the omens are not good.
Fishermen on the lower reaches of the Thames are
puzzled by what seem to be falling fish populations in the
cleaner river. They notice more species, but species that
used to be plentiful have all but disappeared. I would be
pleased by the evidence of increasing biodiversity
represented by finds of species like the Greater Weever in
2008, but a general decline in fish numbers would suggest
that further down the food chain something is going
wrong. The cleaner river, it seems, contains too little food
to support once teeming fish populations. Before we panic
about this, we might consider whether or not a new
balance is being established in the clearer water. What is
obvious is that the situation needs monitoring; we need to
know whether faster river flow, that is, a higher energy
level in the cleaner estuary, might not be removing habitat.
It was widely believed that whitebait were common from
Greenwich to Westcliff-on-Sea because of the sewage in
the river; the annual whitebait feasts held in September all
along the Essex shore of the estuary collapsed in the
1930s when whitebait became scarce because of industrial
pollution. Whitebait is once more on the menu at
Westcliff-on-Sea, but it’s caught in the Black Sea or the
Baltic, not in the Thames Estuary.
Mudflats are easily damaged, even when they are not
deliberately eliminated by landfill, misleadingly called
‘reclamation’, and the building of sea walls, docks and
marinas. Without their neighbours, the eroding cliffs and salt
marshes that absorb the energy of the tides, mudflats will
eventually disappear and with them will go most of the
biodiversity of the Thames Estuary, biodiversity that we are
pledged to protect.
www.buglife.org.uk
TALK of the THAMES
9
REGULARS - VIEWFROMTHEBRIDGE
Sustainably modernising national infrastructure
– an opportunity for engineering policy
Our attitude to infrastructure is largely habitual. But can we change habits by good
design asks Professor Brian Collins of the UCL Centre for Engineering Policy.
In the UK we increasingly need good
infrastructure such as energy, transport,
water supply, and waste management,
shared at a national and regional scale,
but of sufficient quality to support and
sustain our developed society. This
infrastructure must also be resilient to
shock, well managed and should attract
continuous investment.
Concerted UK infrastructure
development started around 150 years
ago and was mostly completed before
1950. Since then, with a few exceptions,
there has been little major nation wide
investment. There has also been
unregulated growth in interdependency,
and much of our infrastructure
provision has been privatised. There is
now little central governance of
infrastructure as a single system.
The most critical interdependencies
are ICT and energy, particularly
electricity, but those between water,
waste and transport are nearly as
important. Where there are linkages
these are largely unregulated and are
often a matter of bilateral contracts.
There is almost no system of overall
analysis or management.
In a recent example homes in part
of London were without gas for
days after supplies were damaged
by a burst water main. While gas
engineers attempted reconnection
in time for Christmas Day electrical
heating and cooking devices were
distributed as a replacement. The
resulting overload on the local
electricity network led to temporary
failure of these supplies as well.
Drivers and trends in
infrastructural change
Change in society’s habits is hampered
by considerable resistance, by weak
social norms, by ephemeral fashions
and unhelpful social obligations, and by
the facts that institutional support is at
an early stage, and that information is
often not widely available.
‘I won’t reduce my water use until
London Water repairs all the leaks.’
10 TALK of the THAMES
A built environment
for the 22nd Century
will most probably:
Modernising national infrastructure
(MNI) is about design, engineering,
implementation and operation for a
sustainable future. Policy has to date
been about analysis, economics, and
politics. If modernisation is to be
successful then engineering policy
must complement traditional policies,
otherwise our implementation will
not be acceptable, or sustainable, or
may not even work at all.
We need to research behaviour. This
is the dominant effect when compared
to physical intervention. We need multidisciplinary research to guide
engineering policy. We need to build
systems which learn, and maybe even
question, our choices and behaviour.
UCL and the future of UK
infrastructure
At the UCL Centre for Engineering
Policy research is underway to
identify factors that contribute to
new behaviour and the role of
engineering in innovation policy. We
aim to use some of our findings to
drive pilots that will investigate where
infrastructural management can be
improved by better data management,
improved resilience evaluation and
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Be designed as an integrated and
organic system
Be high density, mixed use,
and ‘walkable’
Use district-level thermal and
electrical energy from waste
and renewables
Have a de-carbonised electricity
grid, with distributed energy
storage
Involve water recycling and
re-use; local high-intensity
horticulture
Include local, hyper-automated
manufacture of consumables,
including food
Have service provision in place
of capital consumer goods
Show adapted dietary habits and
food requirements
Have a reduced population, with
pervasive behaviour change
Exhibit new work styles enabled
by ultra-high bandwidth ICT
whole life cycle evaluation, better
procurement, and better opportunities
for regulatory coherence.
We aim to develop a roadmap for
maintenance of all components of
infrastructure and skills investment
and development. Naturally the
Thames Estuary does and will play
host to many proposals, projects and
infrastructure developments. For
example flood defence improvements,
debates around airport capacity, new
river crossings, improved waste
management facilities, and
programmes that ensure water
quality, will both inform and be
informed by our work in the Centre
for Engineering Policy.
Brian Collins is Professor of Engineering Policy at UCL. Between 2006 and
2011 he was the Department for Transport’s Chief Scientific Adviser. Until
2012 he chaired the Engineering and Interdependency Expert Group for
Infrastructure UK in Her Majesty’s Treasury.
REGULARS - VIEWFROMTHEENGINEROOM
Thames
Estuary
Partnership
Ship's Log
Report
Illustration Courtesy of: Port of London Authority
May –
December
2012
JETTY 1
Estuary Biodiversity
The Greater Thames Marshes Nature Improvement Area (GTM NIA) project started on April
2nd 2012, will run for three years, and is making good progress. The City Bridge Trust award of
a 3 year grant to fund a Biodiversity officer will provide additional support for linking the GLA
Rivers and Streams Group, the NIA, the WFD and the TE2100 habitat work to the outer estuary.
The new post is expected to start in November 2012.
JETTY 2
Estuary Planning
TEP and the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) met again at the Coastal Partnerships
Network Annual meeting. TEP and the Severn Estuary Partnership have led the collation and editing
of information submitted by all Coastal Partnerships in England. The aim is to show MMO where
partnerships already exist and what they deliver to help marine planning as it covers the English coast.
JETTY 3
Estuary Water Framework Directive (WFD)
TEP and Thames21 are jointly hosting the Pilot Catchment Project for the Tidal Thames in 2012. We
are now collating the information gained from all the stakeholders and river strategy groups we have
spoken to. A wider strategic group will advise on the report format and content, and then the revised
text will be submitted to Defra and to the EA consultation by the December 22nd 2012 deadline.
JETTY 4
Estuary Archaeology: Thames Discovery Programme
The Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) and TEP agreed the legal transfer of HLF assets
to MOLA on July 9th 2012. The Thames Learning Group will use some of the educational
materials to spread the understanding further and support on-going interest for MOLA to
engage with in the future.
JETTY 5
Estuary Events
Leigh-on-Sea Fishing Festival, The Thames Festival and the 40th City of London Thames Fishery
Experiment were all attended by TEP. Our Shipshape poster was very popular with teachers
and families.
JETTY 6
Estuary Education
To facilitate the Thames Learning Group (TLG), a new TLG dedicated website has been
sponsored by Thames Water. The build is nearly complete and a launch date is set to occur at
London’s Living Room, at the GLA on January 14th 2013.
JETTY 7
Estuary Dredging Liaison
TEP has circulated dredging applications and notices and run three Dredging Liaison Group
meetings which support the Port of London Authority engagement with stakeholders. The
potential to pump dredged material ashore, its re-use, estuary sediment movements and levels
of contamination are some of the useful topics raised for further research.
JETTY 8
Estuary Fisheries
TEP hosted a Balanced Seas project staff member and project meetings for the Marine
Conservation Zone project until July 2012. A Greater Thames Fisheries Group meeting will be
held at Southend Town Hall in January 2013. The date is being finalised.
JETTY 9
Thames Research
TEP is working with UCL and the Environment Institute to give practical lectures to students
on how the Thames is managed and monitored. A Biodiversity seminar linking all UCL
departments is planned by the UCL Environment Institute and an MSc graduate is summarising
TEP and other data for the WFD Pilot Project.
JETTY 10
Thames Water
TEP raises awareness of the Tideway Tunnel Consultation and attended a meeting with
Philadelphia USA engineers. They met Tideway Tunnel staff the next day and notes of that
meeting are on our website.
JETTY 11
Thames Freight
TEP is the neutral chair of a group monitoring the impact of river transport through a Site of
Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) at Holehaven Creek. Winter 2012/13 is on course to provide
useful monitoring data on the level of disturbance caused.
TALK of the THAMES
11
NEWS - CITYBRIDGETRUST
New Biodiversity Post for Thames
Estuary Partnership
Illustration Courtesy of: RSPB
This year we have been lucky enough to have received £86,000 over
the next three years from the City Bridge Trust, the City of London
Corporation’s charity.
Elmley Marshes, Isle of Sheppey
Why do we need this role?
The tidal Thames has one of the
highest profiles of any river in the
world. It is affected by the most
densely populated urban area in
Europe, subject to a wide range of
environmental pressures, and has an
equally wide range of users. The
Thames has been heavily modified
resulting in a tidal range as large as 7
metres in some places and with
strong tides and currents. It can
provide an inhospitable environment
for wildlife living in or by the river, or
using it as a route from the North
Sea to the water-courses of the
Thames River Basin. It has a mixture
of salt, brackish and fresh water in
different locations, changing hourly
and seasonally.
While water quality has in general
improved significantly since the 1960s,
challenges still to be addressed
include increasingly frequent
overflows of raw sewage pollution
into the river from an over-stretched
combined sewage system.
There is a highly varied and
intensive use of the Tidal Thames,
from shipping operators of tugs,
dredgers or ferries, recreational
rowers, kayakers and sailors, house
boat owners, walkers and joggers,
tourists, riverside residents and
spectators, and also navigation for
commercial purposes.
12 TALK of the THAMES
The overall aim of the TEP
Biodiversity role is to harness the
knowledge and skills of our partners
who in the past have attended the Tidal
Thames Biodiversity Group. These
partners and new ones need now to
help us make the most of the Greater
Thames Marshes NIA (See pp 14/15
this issue) but there is clearly a wider
role to connect with the work by
others on the river as it runs upstream
into London, and this role will support
these links.
The City Bridge Trust grant has
been awarded to provide the costs
and cover the overheads of employing
a 3 day per week post. This will
support both the work of the Nature
Improvement Area but will also work
with the Greater London Authority
Rivers and Streams Group.
The Greater Thames Marshes
Nature Improvement Area project
already has a 2 day per week post in
place to help the project management
of the delivery. This post was used as
match funding in this application and
will extend to create this wider role.
The contract has now been signed
and the start date was November
12th 2012 for Jo Roche who will be
the new post holder.
What will Jo aim to do?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Connect River and Streams
GLA Group with the
biodiversity work on the
estuary
Connect this work with the
GTM NIA and raise awareness
of overlaps and opportunities
Assist with awareness and
mapping of any work enhancing
habitats along and within the
Thames edges
Shape opportunities for joint
working and multiple benefits
for WFD and Flood risk habitat
improvement
Connect the GTM NIA and
the Marine Conservation Zones
Consultations
Host/attend relevant landscape
scale biodiversity meetings to
further the above
Provide communication on
progress on above
Provide website reports, new
grant proposals and be an
advocate of the Estuary Edges
report, ensuring that partners
still support its recommendations.
We will provide an Annual Progress Report on the TEP
website, in Talk of the Thames and handed out at events to
keep you informed.
NEWS - TE2100PLAN
The TE2100 Flood Risk Management
Plan is now available
The Thames estuary is a successful
compromise of a thriving man-made
landscape coexisting with a rich and
diverse estuarine environment.
Communities living along the Estuary
benefit from world-class flood
defences but increasing pressures,
including climate change, mean that
flood risk is increasing.
We can’t manage future flood risk
alone and will be working with
partners and communities. We need
to find the best way to fund the
future demands for flood risk
management on the Thames estuary.
We are currently looking at the
most cost-effective way to
implement the recommendations in
the TE2100 Plan and starting with
the first 10 years. This will include
maintenance, operation and essential
improvements to the existing flood
defence system. This will be
delivered through the Environment
Agency’s day to day flood risk
management works and through
partnership opportunities.
What does this Plan contain?
The TE2100 Plan sets out the
recommendations and actions that
are needed to manage flood risk
through this century. In developing
this Plan we have investigated and
understood flood risk in the Estuary
today, how it might change in the
future and the many ways we can
manage and adapt to those changes. In
the Plan we describe:
• The future shape of flood risk
management and the range of
options which can manage a
change in water levels through
this century.
• How we have decided on the Plan
through the assessment, appraisal
and selection of what actions are
needed and the range of options to
achieve this.
• What local actions are needed in
the short, medium and long term.
The plan is based on current climate
Illustration Courtesy of: Environment Agency
The Environment Agency are pleased to present their Thames Estuary 2100 (TE2100)
Plan, which sets out how we will continue to protect 1.25 million people and £200
billion worth of property from increasing tidal flood risk through to the end of the
century and beyond.
The flood wall and the Lobster Smack at Canvey Island
change guidance, but is adaptable to
changes in predictions for sea-level rise
and climate change over the century.
What does the Plan do?
•
•
•
•
It directs our future work on flood
warning, flood plain management
and expenditure needed to
maintain and replace the 330 km of
walls, embankments, flood barrier
and gates.
It informs the work and
expenditure of our partners who are responsible for flood planning
and recovery such as local
authorities, resilience planning
forums and the ‘blue light’ services.
It recommends key information
and actions for local government
to inform their spatial plans and
help them make decisions on new
and regenerated developments
across the floodplain.
It raises awareness and improves
the knowledge of tidal flooding
for people living and working in
the floodplain, as well as those
building new homes and businesses
and those involved in insurance and
conveyancing of properties.
TE2100 and climate change
TE2100 is the first major flood risk
management project in the UK to
have put climate change adaptation at
its core. We commissioned scientific
research with the Met Office and
others to improve our understanding.
Our investigations have helped reduce
the uncertainty in what the future
might bring.
Our approach and studies
have been used to inform other
climate change projects such as the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change and the Stern Review. The
results of this work also informed
the part of the UK Climate
Projections 2009 Report. The
science behind the TE2100 Plan has
also been used by many other cities
all over the world, including Venice
and New York, as a good practice
case study.
Public Consultation and
how it shaped the plan
It’s been a long journey since we
started to develop the TE2100 plan
in 2002. We would like to thank
everyone who contributed to our
public consultations, which added to
the wealth of information we already
had on the Estuary. Your information
and views helped us develop our Plan
so that all partners can make the
right flood management decisions for
people and the environment on the
Thames estuary.
To view the Thames Estuary 2100 Plan please visit our
website:
www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/
floods/125045.aspx
TALK of the THAMES
13
PROJECTS - NATUREIMPROVEMENTAREA
The Greater Thames Marshes
Nature Improvement Area
(GTM NIA)
©Crown Copyright. All rights reserved. RSPB licence 100021787
The Greater Thames Marshes is set to be a
cutting-edge example of how to deliver
more for wildlife while promoting economic
growth and enabling local communities to
access nature. Initially the scheme will run
between April 2012 and March 2015.
14 TALK of the THAMES
Illustration Courtesy of: RSPB
PROJECTS - NATUREIMPROVEMENTAREA
Greater Thames Marshes
Partners
Over the past six months, the NIA partners have been
working hard to get the initial phase of this exciting project
moving forward. Since signing the contract with funding body
Natural England in April, we have established the principles of
the partnership and are holding team meetings to plan
delivery. An immediate result has been the inclusion of the
‘Essex Islands’ (Wallasea, Potton and Foulness) within the
NIA boundary.
The Thames Estuary Partnership is providing the neutral
lead with core delivery partners Essex County Council,
RSPB, and Medway Council’s ‘Greening the Gateway, Kent
and Medway’ who are also acting as the Accountable Body.
Supporting partners include the Environment Agency,
Natural England, Thurrock Council, GLA and many others.
Laying the ground work
The GTM NIA Business Plan has an ambitious activity
programme and we are delighted that Jo Roche has joined
TEP as a Project Management Officer to help us to fulfil
these objectives. In addition, a successful interview process
recruited Emma Sheard as NIA Farm Conservation Adviser
to lead our work with farmers and land owners/managers.
A guiding principle for all Nature Improvement Areas is
that our actions aim to deliver the maximum benefit across
a whole landscape. Developing a baseline for monitoring
changes is essential and we have started mapping and
collating available data (including biodiversity records, landuse mapping and climate change projections) to better
support decision making for future actions.
A catalyst for wider engagement
The Advisory Group (AG), crucial to maximum productivity,
held a well-attended initial meeting at University College
London (UCL) in September 2012. Key AG stakeholders will
meet three times a year, in London, Essex and North Kent,
providing recommendations on effective delivery on the
ground between 2012 and 2015. They will also develop
potential projects and fundraising for work beyond 2015.
The same afternoon saw the first meeting of the Local
Nature Partnership (LNP). Championed by Sir Terry Farrell,
the LNP made the connection with the GTM NIA and the
local authority partners involved, building further links on
cross-estuary opportunities, such as ecosystem services and
the National Planning Policy Framework.
Our joint Tidal Thames Catchment pilot with Thames21
(See pp 16/17 this issue) is designed to help the GTM NIA
actions contribute where possible to improved water
quality and habitats on the Thames estuary by sharing
knowledge and understanding.
Joining up the dots
We are focussed on delivering more, bigger, better and
joined habitats in both agricultural marsh and urban settings.
Our vision is for a living and vibrant estuary landscape
which will create and enhance grazing marsh, salt marsh and
mudflat habitats.
Semi-natural Thames Terrace grassland occurs in the East
Thames Corridor notably at Thurrock and Havering. These
sites contain a mosaic of habitats including flower-rich
grassland and bare, sparsely vegetated ground of great
importance to many rare and scarce invertebrates. Very
little of this valuable habitat remains and many of the
associated invertebrate species now rely on open mosaic in
brownfield sites within the NIA boundaries. By working
with Buglife (The Invertebrate Conservation Trust) and the
University of East London we will restore and enhance
habitat for rare Thames Terrace Invertebrates (TTI) such as
the Shrill and Brown-banded carder bees.
A biodiversity offsetting project led by Essex CC and
The Environment Bank will trial a new system proposed by
Defra for maximising biodiversity gain and delivering truly
sustainable development. This project will run a test offset
to evaluate the systems potential for creating new habitats
with long term protection. The University of East London
and Buglife are developing a proposal for a research
programme which would investigate best practice for the
creation and sustainable management of Thames Terrace
Invertebrates and open mosaic habitat.
The RSPB are leading on developing communications to
promote access and engagement with nature, as well as
developing a range of events for stakeholders to learn about
best practice in the GTM NIA.
More information about this project as it
moves forward will be on a dedicated GTM NIA
website: www.greaterthamesmarshes.com
TALK of the THAMES
15
PROJECTS - YOURTIDALTHAMES
YO U R T I D A L T H A M E S
Getting out to the Thames community
Launched by Defra, in January 2012, a year-long pilot project sought the views
of the tidal Thames community on what they wanted from and for the river.
Illustration Courtesy of: TEP Photo
The first phase of Your Tidal Thames, a
joint pilot project between the Thames
Estuary Partnership, and environmental
charity Thames21, marks a step
towards compliance with the EU Water
Framework Directive (WFD). This
legislation states that all rivers and
other bodies of water across the Union
should achieve ‘good’ ecological status
by 2027. The tidal Thames is classed as
a Heavily Modified Water Body and as
such can only achieve ‘good ecological
potential’. Presently, it has been
classified as ‘moderate’.
The intention is not only to improve
the health of the river for wildlife, but
also to enhance economic opportunities
and enjoyment for people in a
sustainable yet equitable way. The
project team have been talking to as
many people as possible ranging from
individuals on the ground to Local
Thames Festival
Authorities, members of industry, and
other tideway charities. We have
discovered what are perceived as the most important aspects
of the river, key issues, and thoughts about solutions.
With such a complex area, and wide range and large
number of people with a legitimate interest in the river, the
project team had to devise ways of collecting a good cross
section of ideas and opinions. That this was the only WFD pilot
(of 25 across the UK) set in an estuary added to the challenge.
To tackle this, the project team considered the tidal Thames
as a ‘social catchment’. The true Thames catchment area
stretches from source to sea, encompassing all rivers that drain
into the estuary, including the lost rivers of London. Each of
these tributaries will need a management plan of its own, and
where there is a pilot already we worked with those project
teams to keep up to date on issues within their areas.
To kick-start the engagement process, we devised a draft
16 TALK of the THAMES
Catchment Plan Template. This working
document introduced the project by
asking four simple questions designed
to be answered by anyone, regardless
of their expertise. The Template was
emailed to 5,000 members of the
extensive TEP and Thames21
databases. Responses were added to a
master document and collated into
themes. Each month these were
published on both charities’ websites,
and sent to anyone who had
registered for project updates.
We then set about meeting as many
people as possible. Thames21 hold
events throughout the year bringing
communities to the river to take part
in cleaning up their local stretch and
provide practical training so that these
communities can become self
sufficient. Holding ‘pop-up workshops’
at these gatherings provided an ideal
opportunity to talk about the Your
Tidal Thames project and hear views
on how the river could be improved.
We also held one-to-one meetings with Local Authorities,
NGO’s, community groups and industry in order to discover
issues facing the Thames from regulatory, conservation and
commercial points of view. Through these meetings we
found out what projects were currently happening, or
planned for the future, that might help deliver improved
water quality, habitat or public access.
The main focus of the pilot has been upon the riparian
boroughs, those that border the river. However, at events
such as the Mayor’s Thames Festival, it became clear that
people living outside these boroughs are also interested in
the river and often have yet to think about the effects of
their water use and waste. This has given us ideas about
how to further education about river processes and WFD
PROJECTS - YOURTIDALTHAMES
Reviewing Thames Estuary
Management Guidance
to see how these align with previous Thames management
guidance. The former introduces the idea that biodiversity
planning interacts with other strategies and crosscuts other themes. Green roofs, for example, enhance
biodiversity but also improve the thermal performance of
a building thus reducing energy use allowing businesses
to shave money off the bottom line, and also support
sustainable urban drainage schemes (SuDS). Safeguarding
the biodiversity of the Thames and adjacent land therefore
addresses accompanying principles for action, such as
addressing the effects of climate change.
Such local strategy documents as the Thames
Landscape Strategy (2012) provide a geographic
context and show how principles for action and planning
policies can lead to practical ideas that allow individuals
and organisations to take direct responsibility for their
reach of the river.
Material collated by Tom Handley is available as a
component of the Your Tidal Thames Final Report.
A vast wealth of consultation literature already exists so
the aim has not been to duplicate the work of others,
but to review contributions from the past fifteen years
in order to identify where progress is lagging and where
future resources should be allocated.
Using the baseline Management Guidance for
the Thames Estuary (1999) twelve objectives
to conserve the estuary’s biodiversity, natural and built
heritage, and economic prosperity are defined. These were
linked to detailed ‘principles for action’ which highlight
that the estuary is a valuable resource for the built
environment. Six subsequent documents were published
and by reviewing iterations of guidance issued in these
documents it is possible to identify what has changed and
where progress has been made.
Policies in the Mayor’s Biodiversity Strategy
(2002) and The London Plan (2011) were reviewed
support real landscape-scale improvement can be achieved
with the full backing of the local communities that already
engagethrough these types of organisation.
Illustration Courtesy of: TEP Photo
within schools across London, and the importance in
connecting people to the river and their green spaces.
In parallel we set up a Strategy Group made up of key
tidal Thames stakeholders. Included were representatives of
regulatory bodies, e.g. the Port of London Authority, the
Environment Agency and the Greater London Authority,
recreational groups such as anglers and The Royal Yachting
Association, Non-governmental Organisations including
RSPB and the London Wildlife Trust, and other Thames
groups, e.g. the Thames River Society. A full list can be found
on our websites.
This group first met in June 2012 and voiced concerns
about the size of task and level of consultation needed.
They also highlighted the wealth of information that
already exists for the River Thames following more than 15
years of consultation for a multitude of different
management strategies and plans. The group recommended
that the project use this information and not ‘re-invent the
wheel’. This has proved to be very wise advice and an
exhaustive review has been completed of all past
management strategies, city wide policies and borough
policies to provide a context for this project, to identify
where policies have been implemented successfully, and to
highlight where the gaps are.
The Final Report and Working Catchment Plan, submitted
to Defra on 21st December 2012, bring together themes
that arose from the public engagement and the literature
review. The Final Report also includes ideas for practical
projects to extend beyond the pilot. We are working in
collaboration with other Thames organisations to fund raise
for their development and implementation.
One of the most important aspects to emerge from the
pilot is that a network of organisations with strong links
into their communities, and forward thinking ideas, already
exists along the tidal Thames. Thames Landscape Strategies
Hampton to Kew and Kew to Chelsea, The Cross River
Partnership, TEP and Thames21 are prime examples of this.
Consultation is undertaken on a regular basis through
these ‘gateway’ organisations and they should be the
starting point for any large scale engagement needed on
the river. Through coordination, collaboration and financial
Stakeholder consultation
Amy Pryor,
Your Tidal Thames Project Co-ordinator for
the Thames Estuary Partnership.
www.thamewsweb.com/your_tidal_thames
www.thames21.org.uk/
www.environment-agency.gov.uk/research/
planning/33362.aspx
TALK of the THAMES
17
PROJECTS - ARCHAEOLOGYMOLA
Illustration Courtesy of: MOLA
TDP in its New Home
The Thames Discovery Programme (TDP) recently relocated to
Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA). James Luckhurst met its
chief executive Taryn Nixon for TOTT and they talked about the
move, its relevance, and the archaeology of the Thames in general.
Taryn Nixon
How important is the Thames as an
archaeological site?
It’s so important. It’s impossible, in my view, to understand
London without understanding the role of the Thames. As
the famous quote from John Burns puts it: “The Thames is
liquid history.” It has been a transportation hub, a source of
food, a resource of leisure, a means of defence, a barrier, a
means of communication, and the list goes on… It’s the
longest archaeological site I know, and, personally, it’s the first
place I take any first-time visitor to London. It sets the scene
and context for the entire development and geography of the
capital. And the magic of it is that it’s ever-changing, full of
drama and emotion.
To what extent would you describe TDP’s
home within MOLA as a ‘good fit’?
It’s a brilliant fit. You may know that in the 1990s we were
involved in research into the archaeology of the river
through the Thames Archaeological Survey, which was one
of the building blocks for the TDP. And, of course, MOLA
and our predecessor organisations have been exploring and
understanding London’s development with some major
waterfront excavations, ever since the early ‘70s. Our
commitment to understanding London and sharing that
information with the widest possible audience is as strong
now as it ever was and TDP is a great example of really
doing that well. It’s hugely exciting for us to take on
something as dynamic as TDP.
What aspect of TDP’s work has inspired
you the most?
Illustration Courtesy of: MOLA
TDP is a flagship project that represents the very best of
community engagement. To have assembled more than 300
dedicated volunteers and maintained the momentum
around that is really inspiring. All credit to Gustav Milne
and Nathalie Cohen and the full team on the project and, of
course, the Thames Estuary Partnership and Thames
Explorer Trust for all they have done. The other inspiring
thing must be the sheer quality and volume of what the
project has recorded. So much of the archaeological
resource is under threat, and the volunteers have done a
stunning job of surveying and documenting it and creating a
lasting record that is now accessible through the London
Archaeological Archive and Research Centre (LAARC).
What are the particular strengths of the
TDP and the way it is organised?
I’d probably single out its inclusivity. It has been a project that
has involved so many different groups and individuals. Right at
the beginning of its life as a Heritage Lottery Fund project, a
steering group was brought together to represent a range of
perspectives. To have so many individuals, institutions and
agencies working together to champion and celebrate the
river’s extraordinary past was a really staggering achievement.
What are the secrets for success when it
comes to taking on (and relying on) a large
cohort of volunteers?
There’s rarely a simple formula that works across every
type of project, but a common pillar that has to prop up
everything in this space is outstanding communication. Add
to that, commitment and ‘cause’. Given all the social media
platforms we have access to today, that communication job
is, in some ways, easier than it used to be, but the speed
and transparency of those platforms means expectations
are higher on all sides too. There is no doubt about the
commitment of all those who have contributed to the
discovery programme around the Thames, or that recording
and celebrating the Thames’s archaeology is a valued cause.
Unlocking the heritage stories and understanding how that
insight can help shape our future is something everyone
who has been involved in TDP understands.
To what extent can the TDP be a blueprint
for other projects across the UK?
I think there is plenty more to develop here in London as
part of the TDP project over the coming months and years,
but, absolutely, there is no reason why this model could not
be adopted all across the country. It’s certainly part of our
thinking and we are developing plans already!
For more information see:
Recent work at Rotherhithe
18 TALK of the THAMES
www.thamesdiscovery.org
www.facebook.com/ThamesDiscoveryProgramme
twitter.com/ThamesDiscovery
www.museumoflondon.org.uk/LAARC
twitter.com/MOLArchaeology
FEATURES - HOUSEBOATGARDENS
10 Things you may not have known
about the Downings Roads Moorings.
James Luckhurst interviewed Nick Lacey of London’s floating gardens for TOTT.
trees. The other structure trees are Robinia pseudoacacia
‘frisia’ or False Acacia. There are also birch, copper beech
and evergreen oak trees.
Substructure shrubs include the already mentioned
Choisya, which does very well. It’s lovely in the Spring with a
wonderful smell. Also there is weeping pear and Forsythia.
Then there are a lot of bulbs and self sown annuals such as
poppies, marigolds and nasturtiums are encouraged.
The fauna is very interesting: we get Rattus rattus, the
aristocrat black rat. Nesting bird species include ducks,
geese (Canada and Greylag) and coots. And we get some
wonderful butterflies, bees and dragonflies. Then, at low tide,
Mr Fox is a regular visitor.
As for the people at Downings Roads Moorings? They are
largely a mix of professionals, many from the creative
industries, but also a brain surgeon, architects,
photographers, a high-class hairdresser, and a joiner/
carpenter. The total is more than 100 currently.
There are seven garden barges; they form the infrastructure
of the moorings. These are so-called ancient moorings,
meaning they’ve been here since time beyond mind, certainly
since the first half of the 19th century, most likely far earlier.
The gardens were devised by the architect Nick Lacey,
and work began in the mid-1990s with the garden on the
barge Silo. The idea was to extend the planting onto other
barges to form the open-ended square that characterizes
the layout today.
The soil on the gardens is a mix of 50% farmyard manure
and 50% top soil in a long steel trench that has been
individually modified for each barge. Each boat has a series
of drainage channels to allow water to run through into
the Thames.
All barges feature some degree of Vinca major
(Periwinkle), Vinca minor (Dwarf Periwinkle), and ivy
groundcover, as well as repeat plants for continuity such as
Choisya ternata (Mexican orange blossom), Hebe (Shrubby
veronica) and Nepata (Catnip).
As well as plenty of nectar producing flowers, the gardens
are managed organically to have as much interest for wildlife
as possible. Some spots are left to grow wild and there are
other devices to encourage wildlife such as small piles of
logs and branches for insects and clumps of nettles for
butterflies to lay their eggs. No chemicals are used.
On board you’ll spot quince, medlar, and variegated plum
Illustration Courtesy of: James Luckhurst
The gardens are on the South Bank, downstream of
Tower Bridge, near the mouth of St. Saviour’s Dock.
They are open three days a year to the public.
For details: www.towerbridgemoorings.org
[email protected]
020 7231 5154
A medlar fruit
The garden barge Surbed with quince and false acacia trees
TALK of the THAMES
Illustration Courtesy of: James Luckhurst
Nick Lacey and Downings Roads
Moorings gardener Corinne Chater
Illustration Courtesy of: James Luckhurst
Illustration Courtesy of: James Luckhurst
Tower Bridge glimpsed through the trees
19
SPECIALFEATURES - 1953NORTHSEASTORM
Illustration Courtesy of:TEP Photo
The 1953 North Sea Storm
Councillor Ray Howard
On the night of January 31st and February
1st 1953 the worst natural disaster of the
British 20th Century left more than 300
dead along the East Coast. The 60th
Anniversary of this event is in 2013 and
Adam Guy went to meet Councillor Ray
Howard in the worst affected UK location,
Canvey Island.
The Flood in Canvey Island
Essex County Councillor for Canvey Island West, Ray
Howard was 11 years old when the 1953 North Sea Storm
struck his home. A combination of low pressure, high spring
tides, and winds of record-breaking velocity caused a massive
tidal surge to travel southwards along the East Coast. Many
of the communications systems that we take for-granted
were not in place then and few coastal residents were aware
of the magnitude of the storm coming their way.
Though Canvey Island had been the fastest growing seaside
community in the UK between 1911 and 1950 Ray points
out that the nearest main police station was in Brentwood,
there were rudimentary telephone and telegraph
connections, and the population of about 13,000 people
mostly lived in poorly constructed buildings. The island had
regularly flooded before 17thC reclamation by Cornelius
Vermuyden, after whom one of the local Canvey schools is
named. In 1953 the sea-walls were still effectively those built
of clay, chalk and Kentish Ragstone by the Dutchman over
300 years earlier and were not more than a metre or so
taller than mean high water.
That night over 1,600 km of Eastern coastline were to be
devastated but it was on Canvey that the largest single loss of
life occurred. Breaching of the sea walls began in the north
at Sunken Marsh at around 1 am on February 1st when the
4.6m high surge arrived. Of the 58 people who died on
Canvey that night 53 died here as water rushed in so fast
that few had time to escape while their single-storey pre-fabs
either filled to the ceiling or were smashed by the rush of
debris-laden water.
The whole of Canvey is on average 1-2m below high
water and almost everywhere was flooded before the
authorities even knew that anything was wrong. The next day
though the response was rapid and major, involving many acts
of individual bravery, and the entire island was evacuated. Ray
spent the next six weeks at King John School at Thundersley
which had been due to open on the Monday.
The Flood in the Netherlands
Across the North Sea the situation was far worse. The path
of the storm led directly towards Zeeland and the surge of
5.6m was even higher in some of the south-western
estuaries. Following a 1928 surge a national flood warning
scheme had been introduced but few of the local ‘Water
Boards’ subscribed to the telegrams, and the radio had been
20 TALK of the THAMES
off air for hours when the surge struck at 3am. As in
Canvey, many of the effects of the storm were exacerbated
by its arrival in the middle of the night on a weekend.
Nearly 2,000 people died that night, most in just two villages,
but the extent of flooding was massive. Recent studies have
revealed a combination of local indecision, poor
understanding of the nature of a breach, and dykes that were
in an appalling state after WWII. There were tales of
heroism however, and one mayor ordered a barge driven into
a dyke breach, preventing a flood that might have affected
over 3 million people.
As in the UK, the Dutch disaster was due mainly to poor
local preparedness, a lack of co-ordinated national planning
for such inevitabilities, and poor quality post-war house
building and sea-wall maintenance.
After The Flood
All around the North Sea coast there was a race to make
immediate repairs before the February 1953 spring tides.
Large numbers of national and international soldiers were
SPECIALFEATURES - 1953NORTHSEASTORM
joined by huge numbers of volunteers as people took trains
to affected areas to help with the clean up. Rapidly the
biggest problems became logistics and fresh water supply.
In both the Netherlands and the UK, the consequences
were significant and governments pledged that such a disaster
would never be allowed to happen again.
The Dutch centralised control over the water boards,
freed up national funds, and began a massive project to string
barrages across the mouths of the southern estuaries, the
Delta Project, completed in the 1980s.
Defences throughout the Thames Estuary were upgraded.
Canvey Island since 1953
From 1975 to 1983, Councillor Howard sat on the panel
responsible for upgrading the sea defences from the river
Mar Dyke to Leigh-on-Sea. With a budget of £104 million,
they led the tendering and completed on time and to budget,
the Canvey works costing £34 million. In 2003 Ray visited
Holland to mark the 50th Anniversary and is actively
Illustration Courtesy of: Dave Bullock,The Canvey Community Archive
The 18.5 km2 of Canvey is now ringed by 24km of 4.66m
high concrete walls, is protected by barriers in Benfleet and
East Haven, and has an extensive system of internal drainage
with 14 pump houses to remove accumulating ground water.
Once shipping had moved from the Docklands to Tilbury,
the Thames Barrier was constructed at Woolwich to protect
Central London. Few realise that it is entirely due to this
system that London is viable as a capital city. In 1953, the
Thames had lapped only millimetres below the tops of the
river walls. Without the barrier, huge swathes of central
London would have flooded many times since.
organising next year’s 60th commemoration.
On Canvey the 1953 flood is not forgotten. Ray
introduced me to local MP for Castle Point, Rebecca
Harris, who recounted a recent Canvey school visit when
children happily told her of the warning signs of a flood
(water coming out of toilets and up through manholes)
and used a model house to show her how to escape from
rising water.
The Environment Agency (See p13 This Issue) stresses that
with an annual sea-level rise between 2-3 mm a year the
current defences should still viable until 2070, given adequate
maintenance. However, the scale of risk
on the Thames flood-plain has increased.
For example in Canvey the population is
three times more than in 1953.
Councillor Ray Howard admits that
he would love to see Canvey covered
again in the fields of his youth but he
knows that realistically expansion will
always occur. To end our trip Ray took
me to the Ove Arup designed
Repairing the breached sea-walls, Canvey Island 1953
Labworth Café and then for a glass of wine in the Island
Yacht Club. Both lie outside the flood defences, and both
have had to fight for their continued existence, a fight that
Ray has assisted.
Ray points out that the people of Canvey are not keen on
managed realignment. His sentiments remind us that on both
sides of the North Sea local people are often loathe
surrendering hard-won land, for whatever reason.
www.canveyisland.org
www.thamesweb.com/1953
www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/floods
www.deltawerken.com
TALK of the THAMES
21
NEWS - ANNUALFORUM
L.I.F.E. Landscape, Industry and Infrastructure,
Flood Protection and Environment
This year the Thames Estuary Partnership Annual Forum took place in Glaziers Hall,
on the bank of the river, beside London Bridge. Besides many other things the
discussions turned to elephants and mice.
TEP President Chris Baines
welcomed everyone to the day by
reminding us that we have just
experienced the wettest drought on
record and by highlighting the
challenges that this brings for
managing climate change and the
estuary. Working together to gain an
understanding of these issues is a
key task and he was pleased to see a
turn out of 205 and a good mix of
estuary stakeholders networking and
enjoying the day.
Q&A Session Highlights
Constraints on space mean that the Q&A highlights have been abridged by TEP but with the
aim of retaining the sense.The full text is available at www.thamesweb.com under Annual
Forum 2012 Report.
To Dan Osgood, DEFRA
Q. (David Cartlidge) “I don’t live up a hill. Is
the government approval for the TE2100 Plan
‘general election proof’?”
Photography Copyright Derek Brown - www.derekbrown.co.uk
A. (Dan Osgood, DEFRA) “The textbook answer to
this is that every government is free to take its own decisions.
However there is a hugely strong economic case to continue
to protect London and the Estuary from tidal flooding to the
best of our ability and with the funding available.”
A. (Howard Davidson, Environment Agency)
“Part of the TE2100 plan is monitoring the response of
planning, the work of the Environment Agency, and what is happening in the
environment. I reflect that to government – whether we need to accelerate or
de-accelerate changes in response to what is actually happening out there on the river.”
Q. (Roger Lankaster,
Tollesbury Mud Club)
“When the elephants go
on the rampage it is the
mice that get trampled!
The Thames Estuary
Forum was set up so that
all stakeholders, both
mice and elephants, got a
22 TALK of the THAMES
Keynote speaker was Dan
Osgood, Deputy Director,
Floods, Coastal Erosion &
CBRN Recovery, DEFRA who
announced the government
ratification of the TE2100
Flood Risk Management Plan.
Q. (Chris
Livett,
Bennett’s
Barges) Inland
waterway
transport
industry needs
training for the
job in a safe
manner; the
other need is
for shipyards and repairs. Do
DEFRA think they can assist
industry in this and what are
their plans?”
A. (Jim Trimmer, PLA) “In relation
to boatyards we have set up a workshop
with the GLA to directly address this.
There are a number of problems we are
going to have to tackle, and clearly this is
the benefit of working together, to
actually understand what we need, where
we need it, and how to do it.”
say in what goes on. Will
yachtsmen get a chance to
talk when decisions on a
Marine Conservation Zone
in the Thames is made?”
A. (Tanya Houston, Port
of London Authority)“The
PLA has been a part of the MCZ
[Marine Conservation Zone]
discussions through the Balanced
Seas process and we’ll continue
to be apart of discussions with
agencies like Defra, TEP, Natural
England and all other bodies
through that process. We are a
port, but a port for recreation
as well as trade.”
NEWS - ANNUALFORUM
Q. (Paul Rayner, Royal
Yachting Association)
“Are we going to get
enough information, early
enough, on what is going to
be happening with TE2100
and WFD management on
the Thames to enable
those involved to get
their heads together in order to create a
good plan?”
Q. (Dido Berkeley,
Thamesbank) “Will the
Environment Agency push
for integrated water
management, which is
central to all development in
the Thames Estuary? Is the
Environment Agency going
to bring this coordinated
approach so that Thames Water has an incentive
to reduce water use?”
A. (Howard Davidson) “The TE2100 plan will be on
our website. We are in a much better place to explain and
comment on flood risk management than we are on the
Water Framework Directive and some of the challenges on
the ecological quality of the water.”
A. (Howard Davidson EA) “I
work with most aspects of water
management and the existing
legislation to bring that together.
The Water Framework Directive
(WFD) and River Basin plans look
at water quality, not just for society
but for the environment.”
A. (Dan Osgood) “DEFRA are starting to think
about how on our water bodies we can reduce the
number of plans and how to have them joined up in a
better way.”
Q. (Gill Moore, Friends of
North Kent Marshes) “Given
that the Thames Estuary is
important for its natural and
cultural heritage, and that a
new airport would destroy
Ramsar sites, SPA’s, SSSI’s,
and the Nature Improvement
Area, what are the panels views on the new
estuary airport?”
A. (Martin Hall, Greening the Gateway Kent and
Medway) “The Mayor of London dictating outside his GLA
remit is unwelcome to Local Authorities and Kent County
Council. The history of airport proposals has meant many local
projects are blighted by the uncertainty and that prevents or
delays taking positive work forward.”
Q. (Rose Ades, Estuary Stakeholder) “Do you
monitor the changing water quality and river flows
of the Thames with the different projects that you
do? Major fish kills, one in the River Crane in West
London resulted from treatment works pollution.”
A. (Martin Baggs) “There are upgrades to five major
treatment works, spending about £600 million pounds, and we
monitor discharges into smaller tributaries.Wider monitoring
needs to be done in conjunction with the Environment Agency.”
See www.thamesweb.com/annual_forum
A. (Martin Baggs, Thames Water) “Water efficiency
is a big part of what we do. We are very much incentivised
to save water – I’m pleased to report that last year we
significantly outperformed our water efficiency targets.”
Q. (Peter Finch, River Thames
Society) “The construction
industry are not used to using
water transport. Is there any
way for TEP, Martin, and
other groups to engage with
them and learn from them
why the river cannot be used
much more in the future?”
A. (Martin Baggs, Thames Water) “I am pleased to
see that we have representatives from the construction
industry in the audience, and I am sure they would be
interested in hearing some of these views. If TEP would like me
to facilitate a wider discussion I would be happy to do that.”
Peter Bye, Chair of the Thames Estuary
Partnership finished the day with special
mention of Dave Wardle who retires
from his current post at the Environment
Agency next year, and thanked him for
his long-term support of the river community. Peter closed with reference to
the many glasses upon the walls of Glaziers Hall by drawing
attention to the motto ‘Cleanliness is next to Godliness’ as
an apt paraphrasing of the community’s shared work but also
reminded us all that this work does not “come for free”.
TALK of the THAMES
23
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24 TALK of the THAMES
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TALK of the THAMES
25
REGULARS - PAULGILSON
Unexploded mine
ShadesofGrey
I have thought long and hard about what is the male version of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’
and I have found it. It was written many years ago in 1653.
‘The Complete Angler’ by Izaak Walton has all the knots
and excitement that a man needed then and still does today.
The thrill of casting a line or net is many a man’s dream and
many marriages have failed because of that thrill.
After fishing for more than 40 years that thrill is still
there and I can remember catching my first fish, a flounder,
when I was about 5 years old. My father was working on
the nets while the boat was on the mooring. He gave me a
piece of twine about 12 feet long, a shackle as a weight, and
an old hook that he had caught in his nets. He baited it with
a hermit crab body that was left on the deck from the
previous day’s catch and I was fitted out.
I was instructed to hold the line between thumb and
forefinger. I was told not to make a sound and to
concentrate on the line. Little did I know this was just to
keep me occupied while he was repairing his nets! I can still
feel that first tug and my scream of excitement as a fish
took a bite on that small bait. Father was soon at my side.
He felt the line and he instructed me to wait for a double
pull and then gently lift the line off the bottom. If it kept
pulling we had it, if not, I was to lower it then do the same
again. I lifted it and it kept pulling but it was not only the
fish that was hooked. So was I.
What I do remember is that Dad stopped what he was
doing and stayed fishing with me, he also had that thrill.
That thrill is still there every time with out fail when the
cod end comes over the rail waiting to be emptied. I
wonder what is in there. It is not just the fish. Pots, bottles,
bones and much human waste comes aboard, some more
welcome than others.
This summer I have had two deadly catches, a beautiful
Greater Weaver fish and my thirteenth mine; both with a
certain charm about them. The colours of the fish with its
black and gold tipped spines and the silver and green of the
mine, despite being 70 years old looking brand new. The
weaver can give you a very painful sting but can be cured by
placing the sting in some very hot water or as hot as you
can stand. The mine on the other hand is still deadly and the
26 TALK of the THAMES
odds on something going wrong must now for me be
shortening. I did look this fine piece of German engineering
up on the net, to learn that the mine would still go off if the
battery was not flat. I found that less than reassuring.
There are still some worrying things happening in our
river. The water has been very clear indicating the shortage
of plankton, fish numbers have dropped dramatically within
the inner estuary, and there is very fast erosion along the
foreshore at Southend and Leigh. None of these events can
be explained yet.
It is clear to the few fishermen left that another decrease
next year will finish them off as well. Two West Mersea
boats are bound for Brixham and two boats from
Whitstable have gone to Plymouth reducing the numbers of
fishermen dramatically. I am looking at moving away as
things have changed so much. Three years ago every thing
looked so good with increasing numbers of all species of
fish, now starvation and failure beckons.
Fortunately it is only here. Further around the coast there
is evidence of the still increasing fish stocks so all is not lost.
What does concern me is the lack of interest or
recognition by many authorities. Why?
On the brighter side I am 99% sure I saw a Basking Shark
this summer and porpoise have been a common sight often
coming well inshore. One gang has been seen several times
in the River Roach up as far as Paglesham and I saw one off
Canvey Island.
Winter approaches and four Brent Geese were seen on
the 5th of September. Let us hope things change for the
better with the change of season. I do hope so as my next
article may well be written from Bideford in Devon.
Paul’s book, Sole Searching, Tales of a Thames Fisherman,
is the perfect Christmas gift. TOTT readers can get
an exclusive 33% discount price of £9.99 by using the
code TEP12 at: www.estuarypublishing.co.uk
Illustration Courtesy of: Paul Gilson
Illustration Courtesy of: Paul Gilson
Greater Weaver fish
FEATURES - RIVERCROSSINGS
River crossings in East London
Transport for London is seeking views on new crossings to help support growth in
the Thames Gateway writes Tony Wilson of TfL.
Illustration courtesy of: Transport for London
Abbey Wood under the Thames at
Woolwich to link with Canary Wharf,
central London and Heathrow
Airport.
While there have been significant
improvements in cross-river public
transport provision, there has been
no corresponding increase in highway
crossings since the 1960s, although
the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge just
outside London’s boundaries at
Dartford opened in 1991.
The existing road crossings
within London are beginning to show
their age; the northbound Blackwall
tunnel is Victorian and is unsuitable
for use by larger vehicles, and the
current incarnation of the Woolwich
ferry is almost 50 years old, and will
be due for replacement in the
coming years. As an area with a
great deal of potential growth and a
reservoir of brownfield land still
available for development, Transport
for London is working on plans for
new crossings, to meet the demands
on the existing crossings and to
cater for the growing population in
the area.
Illustration courtesy of: Transport for London
Illustration courtesy of: Transport for London
Potential and existing Thames crossings
The Blackwall Tunnel
The current Woolwich ferry in action
The River Thames allowed London
to develop as a great trading city,
and its docks formed the lynchpin of
the economy of east London. At the
same time, it has acted as a barrier
to travel between north and south
within the city, particularly
downstream of London Bridge.
Following the closure of the Thamesside docks and a period of decline in
the latter half of the 20th century,
much of the former Docklands has
been transformed beyond
recognition since the 1980s with
tens of thousands of new jobs and
homes in the area, major visitor
attractions including the O2 Arena
on the Greenwich Peninsula, and an
international conference centre
(ExCeL) on the Royal Victoria
Dock. Most recently, the Olympic
Park at Stratford lies slightly to the
north of the Docklands area but is
closely linked to it by road, river and
rail links.
The population of the area has
been growing fast. In the 2011 census
Newham and Tower Hamlets were
the only local authorities in the
country to grow by more than 20%
over the last decade. Much of this
growth has been facilitated by new
public transport infrastructure. The
Docklands Light Railway opened in
the 1980s and has been extended
several times in the years since, the
Jubilee Line was extended through
Docklands in 1999, and there is even
a cable car, the Emirates Air Line,
since summer 2012. Crossrail will
also pass through the area from 2018,
with a new tunnel taking trains from
Proposals for new crossings
One proposal is for a new road
tunnel between the Greenwich
Peninsula and Silvertown, close to the
Blackwall tunnel, which would have
two lanes in each direction and
provide a route for large vehicles,
improving reliability at the Blackwall
tunnel. Another proposal is for a new
vehicle ferry at Gallions Reach,
between Thamesmead and Beckton,
possibly as a replacement for the
Woolwich ferry. Another option
raised in the consultation is whether
a bridge or a tunnel across the river
at Gallions Reach would be better
than a ferry, or could come later.
Finally the consultation raises the
question of how improvements would
be funded, and asks for views on
tolling at the crossings.
TfL’s consultation is open until 1 February 2013.
For more details and a questionnaire so you can have your say,
see tfl.gov.uk/rivercrossings
TALK of the THAMES
27
NEWS - WALLASEAISLAND
The largest new wetland in Europe
Wallasea Island now lies in the Greater Thames Marshes Nature Improvement Area
and the TEP team went to investigate. Hilary Hunter of the RSPB showed us around
and Steve Colclough took the ‘long view’ of local projects.
In the ‘70s the reclaimed land of
Wallasea Island, a four by two mile
stretch of Essex coast that lies between
the rivers Roach and Crouch, was
bulldozed into prairie-like expanses and
became profitable agricultural territory.
During the 1953 North Sea Storm
the entire island had flooded and in
the following years massive sea
defences were built. In common with
many other reclaimed marshes
Wallasea is now farmed-out and has
become less profitable. The land has
shrunk below the surrounding sea,
there is a one in five risk of flooding
each year, and the cost of continued
defence is increasingly prohibitive.
In 2006 sections of the sea wall
were breached, handing some of
the ‘borrowed land’ back to the
sea. A much larger scheme will
eventually change the nature of
the entire island.
The tides come and go
for Wallasea
Almost all of Wallasea is reclaimed
land, a process that probably started
with the Romans. By the 13th
unmodified environments the marsh
can easily grow vertically by up to
2cm a year, and move horizontally
inshore ahead of rising tides, but
when there is nowhere left to
retreat to it becomes stressed, cliffs
form and the marsh is eventually
washed away after erosion by waves.
This process can be accelerated by
the invasion of such non-natives as
the Chinese mitten crab which
honeycombs the creek banks with its
burrows.
Century there were three large
islands of high and low saltmarsh,
separated and penetrated by tidal
creeks and mudflats, and with small
patches of transitional grassland only
washed by the higher spring tides.
Only borrow dykes and drainage
ditches remain between the
rectilinear arable fields. Hares are
common, as are birds of prey and
other creatures. The sea walls are
blanketed in self-sown flowers and
the area has many regular visitors.
We drove past the largest
haystack we had ever seen to a
lonely patch of original saltmarsh at
the far western end of the island.
Saltmarsh forms in areas protected
from large waves, and will only grow
in a narrow inter-tidal zone. Steve
Colclough explained that lateral
channelling visible from the sea wall
might indicate that this marginal
marsh is already under stress.
An annual sea-level rise of 1-2mm,
exacerbated by a further 2mm a year
in the south east (from isostatic
rebound) is increasingly ‘squeezing’
saltmarsh against the sea walls and
up to 2% a year is being lost. In
The Wallasea Island
Wetland Creation
Scheme
Current legislation (EU Directives)
requires that designated habitat lost to
development or sea-level rise must be
replaced. Initial attempts simply allowed
the sea back on to reclaimed land but
where the surface level has shrunk
tides cover the land for too many
hours a day. The result is that new
mudflat and saltmarsh may not develop.
We took a boat to get a closer
look at the 2006 breaches which,
together with a set-back sea wall, were
part of a Defra investigation into
managed realignment. The project, now
known as Wallasea 1 or Allfleet’s
Marshes, was managed by
environmental consultants ABPmer.
The project team stressed that
consultation and stakeholder
engagement are a primary concern.
There had been local resistance to
three previous sites proposed as
compensation for habitat lost to
expansion of the port of Harwich. The
sea wall breaching was widely
reported with diggers allowing the tide
to flood dramatically into the three
resulting habitats.
Wallasea I supplemented the
learning from nearby Essex Wildlife
Trust’s
Abbotts Hall Farm realignment
Wallasea Island
Red Hills
Dendritic Creeks
Mudflat
Low Saltmarsh
Mid Saltmarsh
Upper Saltmarsh
Transitional Grassland
Illustration Courtesy of: RSPB - ABPmer
Surrounding land
boundary (present day)
Date
Sept 10
By
Size
NMW
A3
Version
1
Projection
OSGB 1936
Scale
1:19,000
QA
FMM
3757 - wking_hist_pre_land_claim
Produced by ABPmer Ltd
© ABPmer, All rights reserved, 2010
NOT TO BE USED FOR NAVIGATION
Wallasea before reclamation
0
0.1 0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
km
Pre-land Claim
Circa 1200
Figure 1
Illustrations Courtesy: TEP Staff
28 TALK of the THAMES
Grapnells Farm
Roads
NEWS - WALLASEAISLAND
Buildings
Urban Area
Caravan Park
Drainage
Embankment
Mudflat
work from the University of East
Anglia (UEA) raises new questions.
Over 5 years Dr Hannah Mossman
and her colleagues compared the
flora of 18 realigned marshes with
17 created following accidental
permanent sea wall breaches, some
over a hundred years old, and with
34 natural saltmarshes as a
reference.
The results show that even a century
later most new marshes are not as
diverse as the marshes that we have
lost, or those that we are still losing, and
worse, created marshes do not meet
the requirements of the EU Habitats
Directive.
With more than 50% of worldwide
Wallasea Island
saltmarsh
already degraded, the UEA
Present Day
team stress that created marshes are
Figure 4
better
than none, and that they are
currently developing techniques for
enhancing biodiversity.
Saltmarsh
Burnham On Crouch
Mid Saltmarsh
Upper Saltmarsh
Arable Farmland
Peas
Rape
Wheat
Overland
Point
Surrounding land
boundary (present day)
Grasslands
Point
Ringwood
Point
Grapnells
Farm
Brankfleet
Spit
Illustration Courtesy of: RSPB – ABPmer
Wallasea
Ness
Paglesham
Date
Sept 10
By
Size
NMW
A3
Version
1
Projection
OSGB 1936
Scale
1:19,000
QA
FMM
3757 - wking_hist_present_day.mxd
Produced by ABPmer Ltd
© ABPmer, All rights reserved, 2010
Wallasea today
NOT TO BE USED FOR NAVIGATION
in showed that grading land before
opening the sea wall allows typical salt
marsh colonists to develop.
Wallasea Wild Coast
The reason that the TEP team came to
Wallasea lies more in the future than
the past. Beyond the public path along
the northern sea wall is a long slipway,
and from our boat we saw a large
aggregate transporter moored to a
new pier.
Over the next ten years 6 million
tonnes of material removed from
Crossrail tunnelling in Central London,
and barged from Northfleet on the
Thames, will be used to raise the
sunken land of Wallasea by around 2m.
Clays and gravels from London will
allow engineers and landscape
architects to create a complex mosaic
of habitats once the tides return
through six additional breaches. The
project also allows room for marsh
retreat in response to uncertain
climate-change driven sea-level rise.
The RSPB Wallasea Wild Coast project
is the largest recreation of coastal
marshes that Europe has yet seen. The
resulting mudflats, saltmarshes, saline
lagoons and grazing marshes were
planned for humans and fish, as well as
for birds. There will be more than
15km of new access routes, for walkers
and cyclists as well as for bird watchers,
and a range of visitor facilities is
planned. Entry from the water by
kayakers or other vessels has also been
considered. Naturally the project is
expected to stimulate the local
economy and create many jobs,
including, it is hoped, those based on
expanding sustainable local aquaculture.
Crucial to the process has been to
get the locals ‘on side’ explains Hilary
Hunter, RSPB Public Engagement
Manager, based full-time on Wallasea.
0
0.1 0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
km
“Saltmarshes provide a range of
functions important to humans and the
environment called ‘ecosystem services’. As
well as flood defences and bird habitat
they provide key nurseries for bass and
other fish, strip nutrients from the water,
and sequester carbon. Our task is to
evaluate these services. Future designs can
then optimise use and will attract
supplementary funding streams from
sources, such as the Common Fisheries
Policy (CFP), because of the benefits that
they provide.”
Steve Colclough, SC2 - Colclough
& Coates Aquatic Consultants
How much marsh
is enough?
Lessons from Wallasea
Projects such as Wallasea Wild Coast
aim to ensure the future of our
habitats and their diversity. Recent
Four hundred years ago there were
30,000 hectares of tidal salt marsh
along the Essex coast. Today just
2,500 ha remain. Wallasea is a living
textbook of integrated coastal
management. NGOs, ecologists,
engineers, academics, policy-makers,
local businesses, and the public will
be following developments at the
edge of the North Sea over the
coming years. The TEP team cannot
wait to return.
Elevation (m ODN)/Habitats
-1.4 - 0.9 / Creek
0.91 - 1.85 / Mudflat
1.86 - 2.25 / Low Saltmarsh
2.26 - 2.7 / Mid Saltmarsh
2.71 - 2.9 / Upper Saltmarsh
2.91 - 3.25 / Transitional Saltmarsh
3.26 - 4.99 / SLR Adaptation Zone
5 - 6 / Wall & Platforms
Burnham On Crouch
3 - 2.5 / Saline Lagoon
Footpath
Car Park
Coastal Grazing Marsh
Dog Walking Area
Events Field
Overland
Point
Grapnells
Farm
Existing Borrow Dyke
Grasslands
Point
Site for Future Visitors Centre
Ringwood
Point
Saline Lagoon
Brankfleet
Spit
Reptile Re-location
Brackish Marsh
Wallasea
Ness
Wild Bird Cover
Fish Lagoon
Arable Farmland
Peas
Illustration Courtesy of: RSPB – ABPmer
Wheat
Creeks
Caravan Park
Roads
Grapnells Farm
Buildings
Urban Area
Embankment
Surrounding land
boundary (present day)
Paglesham
Date
By
Size
Sept 10
NMW
A3
Version
1
Projection
OSGB 1936
Scale
1:19,000
QA
FMM
3757 - working_hist_proposed_site
Produced by ABPmer Ltd
© ABPmer, All rights reserved, 2010
Wallasea Wild Coast
NOT TO BE USED FOR NAVIGATION
0
0.1 0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
km
Adam Guy
Thames Estuary
Partnership
Special Projects
www.rspb.org.uk/wallasea
www.abpmer.net/wallasea
Proposed design for the
Wallasea Island Wild
Coast Project
TALK of the THAMES
Figure 5
29
REGULARS - COASTALPARTNERSHIPNETWORK
Developing Partnership Working at the Coast
- A Coastal Partnerships report for the
Marine Management Organisation (MMO).
Jill Goddard outlines recent progress in coastal planning.
the Marine Planning process and the
MMO were equally interested in what
we did. The CPN submitted a
proposal to MMO in late 2011 to
produce a report detailing the
activities of the CPs, by geographical
area, by Marine Plan area boundaries,
and by a breakdown of which
activities we all carried out, and which
were only covered by some of us.
This proposal was accepted by the
MMO in February, TEP acted as the
contractual lead due to its Company
status, and work started in March
2012. At 141 pages, the final draft of
the report now with the MMO, was
far larger than we, or the MMO, had
ever anticipated. Through a
questionnaire to all CPs, a paid postgraduate student in Severn Estuary
Partnership to nag and collate the
results and with wider network
officer time in kind, we were
impressed at how much information
there was to include.
TEP is one of 46 Coastal Partnerships
(CPs) in England. The Marine Scotland
planning process is providing funding
for the Scottish Coastal Partnerships
during a transition period. In Wales,
the role of Coastal Partnerships is
being considered and the Severn
Estuary Partnership straddles the
England/Wales boundary.
Many CPs are the legacy of the
1992 Natural England ‘Estuaries
Initiative’ which recognised the conflict
of uses at the coast and funded a
project to develop joint working by
providing staff costs for each area.
The CPN recognised the impact that
the Marine Planning Bill would have
on local communities and partners.
Supportive stakeholder engagement
with a trusted network and
communications route through
themselves, or through working with
other partners in their area, is
something which all Coastal
Partnerships offer.
We wanted to be a useful part of
30 TALK of the THAMES
A sneak preview of the results is given
with the permission of Martyn Youell,
the MMO Senior Planner.
The results show a wide range of stakeholder work on the coast. From providing
forums, events, websites and magazines, to the mix of partners and the
geographical areas covered, plus financial structure and the staffing models. As
the MMO move towards the South Coast these maps show that there is
someone there waiting to help and that contact details and information on
activities covered, are waiting too.
Illustration courtesy of: TEP Photo
Time has passed, some CPs have
developed and flourished, others have
struggled, changed structure, or
disappeared. Staff in the CPs have
frequently tackled identical issues
around the country. Mutual support
and sharing of experiences is known
as Integrated Coastal Zone
Management (ICZM).
By 2005, this seemed a sensible
group of people to engage with and
when The Coastal Partnerships
Working Group was duly formed, I
attended their first meeting in Bristol.
This has now grown into the Coastal
Partnerships Network (CPN).
The Crown Estate kindly provided
funding for the creation of a new
website in the name of the CPN.
Defra, who were invited to our first
Annual Meeting, provided financial
support to help cover the meeting
cost. Meetings have continued
annually and we all appreciate the
financial support that has helped us
stage them.
Alkborough
CP officers enjoyed a fascinating visit to the Alkborough Flats, Humber Estuary
flood alignment scheme, with site manager Anna Moody as our guide.
A CPN Coordinator possibly combined with the European Marine Sites coordinator
role was discussed and agreed to be useful to develop a funding bid for.
FEATURES - DEPTFORDDOCKYARD
The Lenox – The first ship to be built in
Deptford Dockyard for 150 years
Plans to develop one of the most high-profile riverside sites in south east
London are currently being formulated, and a project led by local residents
could see ship-building return to the former King’s Yard. Julian Kingston tells
TOTT about the project.
Illustration courtesy of: Richard Endsor
information, which is drawn directly from records kept by John
Shish at the time Lenox was built, it will be possible to
construct an exact replica. This will be the first Navy vessel of
this period to be built using contemporary records.
The potential benefits this project can offer to Deptford, its
neighbouring World Heritage site Greenwich, and the
developer are enormous. The site’s owner and developer
Hutchison Whampoa acknowledged this by formally including
the project on their latest master plan being put together by
Terry Farrell & Partners.
The Lenox Project will be situated within easy walking
distance of maritime Greenwich, enabling the scheme to
radically enhance the experience for tourists visiting this
part of the Thames. With known visitor figures, the scheme
has the potential to be self-financing within two years of the
keel being laid.
Similar projects in Europe such as L’Hermione at Rochefort
in western France have already proved the success of the
concept and have provided employment and training in both
traditional and modern transferrable skills. Moreover, in the
case of L’Hermione, this has triggered the rejuvenation of the
whole town developing hospitality, catering, and the arts as well
as other marine enterprises.
The Lenox team, many of whose members live in
Deptford, has spent the last year steadily researching,
campaigning and seeking support. Interest and confidence in
the project is growing, with the project gaining its first patron
in local MP Dame Joan Ruddock; more recently, the historian
and broadcaster Dan Snow has also agreed to act as patron
for the cause.
The team is actively fund-raising and intends the first
tangible manifestation of the project to be the construction of
a sizeable scale model as well as a scheme to digitise the plans
of the ship. The intention is to involve local trainees and
unemployed people right from the early stages onwards.
The Lenox at sea
Julian Kingston is leader of the Lenox Project.
Illustration courtesy of: Richard Endsor
Next year it will be 500 years since Deptford dockyard
received its Royal Charter from King Henry VIII and became
the navy’s premier ship-building yard. Although it was not the
largest of the navy’s yards, Deptford remained the most
important until ships became so big that launching so far
up-river started to become problematic.
Evidence of boat-building on this site dates back to the
Romans, but from 1513 onwards more than 400 naval ships
were built here until the yard was closed in the 1860s.
Keen to secure his sovereignty Charles II persuaded
Parliament to finance the construction of 30 radical new
warships, the first of which was Lenox. Named after Charles II’s
illegitimate son, the boat was designed and built by master
shipwright John Shish, and presided over by Samuel Pepys.
The skills, technology, and industry that were required
to build these ships mean that by today’s standards, the
best comparison to 17th Century Deptford would be
Cape Canaveral.
For many years, this hidden-away 43 acre site has been idle
while planners, developers, and others have argued over
densities and profit margins. However, beneath the surface of
the site, the monumental structures of the entire Royal
Dockyard are still in place. As well as the foundations of the
dockyard’s Tudor storehouse, substantial remains of the double
dry dock, numerous slipways, mast-ponds, and the Great Basin
have been unearthed. Above ground at the centre of the site is
the listed Olympia boatbuilding shed and just outside the limits
of the development is the spectacular Master Shipwright’s
House, where John Shish lived.
The Lenox Project was founded two years ago, largely as a
result of the community’s desire to see more than just luxury
housing on the site. This fantastic scheme, which aims to build
and launch a full-size replica of the Lenox, is based on more
than 20 years of research by historian Richard Endsor.
Endsor’s book, The Restoration Warship, catalogues the
history and construction of Lenox in minute detail. Using this
Launching of the Lenox
Build the Lenox: www.buildthelenox.org
TALK of the THAMES
31
FEATURES - 40thFISHERYEXPERIMENT
The City of London Thames Fishery
Research Experiment - 40 years
The first Thames Fishery Experiment took place in February 1966 and was organised
by the Thames Angling Preservation Society (TAPS).There were over 500 participants
and over 578 fish were caught. This year was the 40th anniversary event and
Jill Goddard was invited.
Illustration courtesy of: Clive Totman
The Thames Angling Preservation Society had been created in
1838 on the instruction of the Lord Mayor of London, Lord
Plummer, who wanted a group to look after the river Thames.
Dick Hodges, currently the TAPS Secretary, and in the old
days was entitled to carry a truncheon and use a dog to
encourage the lawful behaviour of others. He has been
Reg Butcher and Dick Hodges
Chairman and Secretary of the London Anglers Association for
20 years, then President, a title he holds today.
Reg Butcher was President of the Kingfisher Angling Club and
joined the Thames Angling Preservation Society (TAPS) on
meeting Dick. Reg had worked on tugs on the river and fished
at night...
”...to avoid the jibes that I would never catch anything in that
dirty river.”
He caught a 15lb cod in 1966 from Gravesend Promenade.
Reg got Gravesham Council involved through the Mayor,
Ivor McMillan, a river pilot by training.
The 1966 experiment was repeated in 1970 and the City of
London Corporation became interested in 1971, producing the
first distinctive commemorative enamel badge for 1972. In
1973, the first jointly arranged experiment took place with a
bar being attached to the badge bearing the year 1973 to mark
the occasion. The event is now an annual event in its 40th year.
The City of London Thames Fishery Research Experiment
encourages sustainability and conservation through the rules
which require young and undersize fish to be returned
immediately to the river once recorded. Eels are also put back.
Prizes are awarded and judging is based, since the
early 1970s, on the greatest variety of fish caught, as measured
with a scoring system devised by Doctor Wheeler of the
Natural History Museum. His system rates fish according to
scarcity and significance in the context of a cleaner river.
The objective of the experiment is to demonstrate the
reduced level of pollution in the Thames and the
32 TALK of the THAMES
environmental condition by determining the number and size
of fish and to award points related to the scarcity of the fish
species caught and their weight. The data is provided for the
Environment Agency, Thames Angling Preservation Society and
the river community.
The event is run by the City of London Corporation
through the Port Health and Environmental Services
Committee in collaboration with the Thames Angling
Preservation Society and the Environment Agency with financial
contribution from the Fishmonger’s Company and the PLA
through the School’s trophy.
It is currently held near Denton, Gravesend.
The Teams
City of London School for Girls, City of London
School for Boys, Gravesend Grammar School for
Girls, Charles Stanley Angling Team, City of London
Corporation Invitation Team, Port Health and
Environmental Services Committee Team, Essex
County Angling Team, PLA Angling Team , Kent Angling
Team, Thamesiders Angling Team, and the Public
Services Angling Team.
5 species were caught and a total of 550 fish; 1 cod, 2
pouting, 3 dab, 24 flounder, and 520 Whiting.
The Lady Howard Trophy
To the team with the highest points
The Public Services team, collected by Josh Sawyer and
presented by Lady Valery Howard.
Fishmongers’ cup
The largest or best fish caught during the competition
Rick Hodson of the PLA team for 9lb Cod, presented
by Dr Peter Mathews.
Biodiversity award
The catch which most demonstrates continuing healthiness
and improvement of the River Thames
Phil Baxter of the PLA Team, presented by Dr Peter
Mathews.
PLA Schools Trophy
The School with the highest number of points awarded
Gravesend Grammar School for Girls, presented by Dr
Peter Mathews.
The Best Independent Catch by an Adult Team
Rick Hodson of the PLA Team, presented by Nigel
Pullman, Sheriff.
Rick Hodson and winning Cod
Illustration courtesy of: Clive Totman
Illustration courtesy of: Clive Totman
FEATURES - 40thFISHERYEXPERIMENT
Illustration courtesy of: Clive Totman
Dr Peter Mathews and school team member
Mick and Rita Merrick volunteer helpers for London
School for Girls for 19 years.
Dean Newham, Teacher Gravesend Grammar for Boys
“...The mix of boys teaching each other to fish is great …”
Rick Hodson, PLA Team
“40 years and delighted to have caught the biggest cod for him.”
Gravesend Grammar school for Girls and 2 City Sheriffs
The Best Independent Catch by a School Team
Mathew Perry, Gravesend Grammar school for Boys,
presented by Gregory Evans, Sheriff.
The Chairman of the Port Health and
Environment al Services Committee, John
Tomlinson presented new badges to those attending
the experiment for the first time this year.
(In the early days 2 Essex lads walked from Stanford-leHope to take part.)
Lunch for all in the early days was a packet of
sandwiches and a can of beer and the weather
descriptions read like a shipping forecast:
Warm Sunny Bright, Bright Gusty, Warm Dull, Cold
Windy Overcast, Cold Windy, Mild Cloudy Showers,
Warm Sunny, Warm Sunny Periods, and Cold Rain
Windy varying to Cold Heavy Rain Windy.
Previous Experiment Results
Essex County Angling Team won in 1989 and in 1996 in
warm sunny periods. The Charles Stanley Team did well
in cold heavy rain and windy conditions in 1998 but
also on a warm sunny day in an ealier year.
In 1989 136 Flounder were caught; an 11lb 15oz
Sole was caught in 1990; a Nilsson’s Pipe Fish was
caught in 1994; and 100 eels were caught in 1997. From
2000 onwards the number of Bass caught went into
double figures but the number of Flounder caught has
declined since 1989. Eels have dropped to single figures
in the last 3 years consistently.
The highest fish count for any species in this stretch
of the river is the Whiting with 772 being caught
in 2005.The first time the overall fish count at the
experiment went over 800 was in the same year with
881 recorded.
Tom Cousins EA
“This data is useful to the EA and has informed the assessment of
the impact of the Tilbury Power station improvements.”
Sir David Howard, former Lord Mayor of the
City of London whose father, also a Lord Mayor,
was instrumental in establishing the event
“My father was keen to catch a Salmon. Not yet fulfilled but the
excellent cod caught today is very encouraging news...”
John Tomlinson
Chairman, Port Health and Environment Services Committee
“...the joint co-operative effort between the City of London and
TAPS since 1973 has been a great achievement. 1973 also saw
another cooperative agreement-the entry of GB into the European
Union. I cannot help but say that our success rate has been rather
better than theirs...”
Steve Colclough, SC2
“40 glorious years of science, sport and friendship-led throughout
by Dick Hodges and Reg Butcher of TAPS with the City of London
Corporation. Marvellous stuff, long may it continue...”
Mick Sharpe,
“The Olympic year in 2012 has told us all to inspire a generation.
This experiment has inspired many generations. Dick and Reg
have been instrumental in introducing the Bye laws we take for
granted today.”
Deputy Mayor Gravesham-Cllr Derek Sales
“The health of the river is very important to Gravesham Council.This
event has the full support of the Council and I am delighted to see
these results today. Gravesham is proud to host this event and to
work with the City of London Corporation. I look forward to another
successful 40 years of running this and long may it continue.”
Dr Peter Mathews
Master of the Water Conservators July 2012-2013.
“...I knew Dr Wheeler who provided the scoring system for the
species caught and who was a charming man. I am very proud
to facilitate and to present the Biodiversity award as it reflects
the original spirit of the 1966 initiative and the resurrection of it
in 1973...”
TALK of the THAMES
33
NEWS - DREDGINGLIAISONGROUP
Dredging Liaison Group Update (DLG)
The DLG last met on 20th September
2012 and the PLA informed the group
of the dredging activity since the last
meeting. Good discussions and
presentations on several topics of
relevance followed.
John Spencer, GPS Marine Ltd
is concerned that there were a very
limited number of sites on the
Thames where pumping ashore of
dredged material can be achieved. He
felt that more sites are needed with
wider commercial agreements for use
which would benefit all dredging
companies and could provide valuable
habitat by raising or contouring an
agreed wildlife site.
Water injection dredging
(WID) and water agitation dredging
(WAD) are the dominant methods of
dredging (90%) in use in the Thames
estuary with the arisings being
dispersed within the river. The
remaining 10% of operations are
primarily used when there is
contamination or a disturbance issue
with the arisings being removed by
mechanical methods and disposed of
at sea or ashore.
The Port of London Authority
(PLA) manages the environmental
licencing of this and checks sample
material results. The PLA are currently
working with Queen Mary College,
London and the British Geological
Society to support their work.
All felt that a more holistic view of
sediment movement within the
estuary would be beneficial and
pooling of information from all sources
would enable a better understanding
of how it worked.
As the PLA project work above
progresses, the DLG offered their help
to develop this approach, potentially
with an annual presentation of estuary
processes.
Marcus Pearson updated the group
on the progress of the new port at
London Gateway.
Arial photographs showed the new
jetties and the quay wall now clearly in
place. The arrival of three new cranes
in 2013 will mark the run down to
opening time for the first wharf to
host the new larger ships.
34 TALK of the THAMES
Illustration courtesy of: DP World
Jill Goddard and Mervyn Littlewood report back on recent topics.
London Gateway Port
Contamination from any on site
drainage during the construction
process is being remediated and
monitored. Mucking Creek remained
unpolluted and the first of two intertidal compensation sites - Stanford
Wharf Nature Reserve - has already
shown beneficial fish use.
Concerns on the loss of foreshore
sediment at Southend were expressed
and the effectiveness of the monitoring
put in place by DP World discussed.
Marcus listed the monitoring
programme, which all present were
already aware of, through the planning
and licence agreements agreed after
the Planning Enquiry in 2008.
An independent team had taken
aerial surveys and land measurements
of the sediment levels from Mucking
Flats to Maplin Sands and along the
North Kent coast.
Steve Bewers noted the
requirement on DP World to monitor
the area described above and that
these results were passed quarterly to
the Environment Agency, Natural
England and the PLA, amongst others,
to assess. Where agreed limits of
sediment concentration in the water
column within the designated control
area were reached DP World’s
dredging contractor had to stop
operations in the impacted area,
whatever the cause of that change, be
it natural or man-made.
He illustrated this with two
incidents in May and July 2012 where
the dissolved oxygen level off Mucking
Flats fell below the agreed limit. This
was caused by sewer overflows in
London and the bad weather but the
dredging by DP World London
Gateway stopped in this area because
the monitors picked up that the
dissolved oxygen had fallen below the
specified level.
Southend Foreshore. Steve noted
that a technical group of the regulators
had been set up and that he was
grateful to DP World London Gateway
for its assistance in allowing their data
to be used by the group. DP World
had seen no indication through their
monitoring programme that their
dredging activities were affecting the
foreshore at Southend.
The EA shoreline management team
have been tasked nationally to examine
data elsewhere to see whether similar
changes are evident in other parts of
the country.
Finally, the meeting closed after
noting the consultation period
deadline for the Marine Management
Organisation on dredging licensing. The
PLA would submit their comments
and provide a copy to the DLG
members for information and
transparency.
NEWS - SOUTHENDSILT
Councillor Peter Wexham tells TOTT about
recent changes on the Southend foreshore.
Illustration courtesy of: Peter Wexham
I grew up along the foreshore
between the pier at Southend and
Leigh Old town during the 1950s. I
started work white-baiting on the
Bawley ‘Enterprise’ and then fishing for
shrimps on the Dunkirk little ship
‘Endeavour.’ Going fishing you learn all
about tidal flows and changes to the
seabed as well as what goes on around
you with the natural environment.
The Southend shores have been
mudflats all my life with Cockleboats
raking out Cockles and bait diggers
looking for Ragworm, Lugworm, and
Peeler crabs. Some of the mud was
firm to walk on and in other places
you could sink up to your knees.
Southend was famous for MUD,
MUD Glorious MUD.
A few months ago one of the local
fishermen, Paul Gilson (well known to
TOTT readers), said that something
strange was going on along the
foreshore. Timber workings were
starting to show at the bottom of the
beach at Chalkwell, and rills were
opening up towards Leigh.
We met near the Crowstone, the
old limit of the PLA, which has always
been on hard ground, but all around
had been mud. Paul and I had never
seen anything like this before, there
were stony areas showing to the east
towards Westcliff and southeast
towards the Ray Channel.
Deep guts are opening up too. I can
only assume that they had always been
there but had been filled in with silt,
and now this has gone leaving open
channels, probably fed by springs of
fresh water.
Notification of the
authorities
I contacted the Council Engineer in
charge of the sea defences. The next
morning at low tide we all had a good
look around and found other timber
posts and stakes that had not been
showing the day before. It appeared as
if several centimetres of silt was being
washed away with each tide.
This Engineer contacted
Environment Agency officer Steve
Bewers, who is in charge of the
monitoring of dredging for DP World
and the new port at Shellhaven, and
who arranged a meeting with
specialists from HR Wallingford to talk
Illustration courtesy of: TEP Photo
What is happening
on Southend Beach?
The Crowstone
about the problem and try and find
out what is going on.
Since then the area of stony ground
has enlarged eastwards nearly as far as
the Pier and now covers the foreshore
from the beach and revetment off to
the Ray, about three quarters of a mile
from the high water line.
The stones are not like normal
beach stones; they are smaller than a
pea and not rounded like pebbles.
There is only a thin layer as if they
have been spread and under them is
light grey clay.
Monitoring of the
situation
The Environment Agency has taken
pictures, and has now started
surveying the whole foreshore. They
are also arranging for aerial photos to
check against the ones taken some
years ago.
We do not know how long this
erosion has been taking place. Whilst
I estimate that as much as two foot
of mud has been lost it was not until
the timbers were exposed that this
was obvious.
A strange thing is that when I was
fishing the water that rushed out of
the guts was very cloudy and dense,
but now the water running though the
guts and rills is as clear as gin.
Something has changed that appears
to have altered the sustainability of
the mudflats.
TV recently showed a picture of
the landscape of Mars and it does not
look much different to what we now
have on our shore.
Peter Wexham is a Councillor for
Southend on Sea Borough Council.
Erosion and oysters
TALK of the THAMES
35
FEATURES - ISLEOFGRAIN
Exploring the
Island of Contrasts
Michael Dale introduces a remote
community at the very edge of the
Thames Estuary.
The industrial heights of Grain
The expansive marshes of Grain
The first sight at Grain Bridge that attracts the visitor’s eye
is the collection of eight giant quay cranes of Thamesport, a
harbour with deep water jetties for some of the giant
container ships that travel the world. The road then
continues on, through a spread of shining modern
engineering structures, at the importation terminal for
liquefied natural gas. The gas is offloaded here, having been
Be that as it may, a contrasting story starts here. Most
people who visit the island will see the industry first,
turn away, and go back along the lonely road across the
marsh. But we say, “Please drive on. For here, you will
see another side, to reveal the true wonders of the Isle
of Grain.”
Drive through this eerie mix of industries, and out the
Illustration Courtesy of: Michael Dale
The single road to the Isle of Grain, takes you to the final end
of the Hoo Peninsula. Its northern coast borders the River
Thames, and its southern coast the Medway. Claimed to be
one of the most remote settlements in the southern
counties, it divides the two great rivers at their estuary to
the North Sea.
Grain is an island in effective terms, the last three miles
of the Hoo Peninsula crossing saturated wetland marsh
which has no other road or footpath connecting to the
Peninsula. A place few visitors come to, or even know
about. Yet, in contrast to its remoteness, it has two stories
to tell.
shipped in from afar. You will see some of the biggest
storage tanks in the world, each large enough to enclose
the Royal Albert Hall or St Paul’s Cathedral, and they
contain one fifth of the entire country’s gas supply. This
industry is accompanied by another importation terminal,
for aviation fuels, to be stored in tanks and then pumped,
mainly by pipeline, to the major airports in the southern
half of the Country.
Next is another terminal, for granite, shipped here from
Scotland, and where, 20-plus years ago, the concrete
segments were cast to assemble the walls of the Channel
Tunnel. There are also two sub-sea electricity cables, coming
up from under the foreshore, to connect the British
network, one with France, and the other with the
Netherlands, to an interconnector station which converts
the supply current to be suitable for our National Grid.
Finally, there are three Power Stations and a peak load
generator station.
There is no doubt that all of this, within a two-mile
radius, means the island hosts one of the largest and most
nationally important combinations of thriving global energy
suppliers and international trade in the southern half of the
country: a major intersection of gas, electricity, fuel and
trading movements for onward dispatch, worldwide and
countrywide. It is all here.
Lees Marshes
36 TALK of the THAMES
FEATURES - ISLEOFGRAIN
Illustration Courtesy of: Michael Dale
Illustration Courtesy: Michael Dale
Rainbow at the Nore
other side, and the road settles into a quiet avenue, through
fields of rapeseed or corn, to the small parish of St James, a
little retreat on higher ground. You will have found us; a
small compact little community, with a church, a pub and
several busy little shops, where the journey starts down
onto the marsh.
When it is high tide, I could take you on a walk on the
Isle of Grain, where in twenty minutes you would find
yourself in the heart of the marsh, and where you will
find a place you could not believe exists. Just 30 miles
from the centre of London, watch as the full tide washes
in at speed, carving steep banks of white cockleshells at
the entrance to the Yantlet channel. It is here, the Island
reveals its true self.
The village borders Lees Marshes, the North Level (marsh),
and where the Yantlet divides the Island from the Peninsula.
The mudflats here are a favourite resting place for seals.
There is a solitary monument, ‘The London Stone’, at the
entrance to the Yantlet. Cast an imaginary line across the
Thames, from the London Stone to the Essex beach at
Chalkwell, where the ‘Crow Stone’ can be found and this line
demarks the historic end of the Port of London’s jurisdiction,
and with it, the end of the River Thames.
When standing on the marsh at Yantlet, you’ll be
forgiven for thinking how open and desolate it appears.
But this is where its real and natural beauty is revealed.
Now, as you stand removed from the clanging and
bustle of the industry in the far distance, you feel an
almost shouting silence. A rare but natural silence is
only disturbed by the occasional whisper or grunt of a
contented cow, or the sudden startling shriek of a
wading bird. Out in the Thames, you might hear a
passing ship, with the steady thump-thump of its engines,
as it makes it way onwards to the Nore Light and to
distant shores.
The Cuckoo Path, Grain
A rare but natural
silence is only disturbed
by the occasional
whisper or grunt of a
contented cow, or the
sudden startling shriek
of a wading bird. Out in
the Thames, you might
hear a passing ship,
with the steady thumpthump of its engines, as
it makes it way onwards
to the Nore Light and to
distant shores.
Visitors arrive in Grain
Some people have discovered us, and travel miles to spend
time here at our new Coastal Park, with its two mile
foreshore walk, just past the church. From the shores of the
Island, there is a view for miles, out across the Estuary, to
the Isle of Sheppey and the town of Sheerness, at the
Medway entrance. Look the other way towards the distant
town of Southend.
The island’s shore is where Turner stood when he
sketched the scene of The Fighting Temeraire as it was
towed by paddle tug from Queenborough to Rotherhithe,
and its final berth.
Watch the ships arrive from deep sea and guess which
river they will turn into: the Thames or the Medway?
Wander through the woodland paths amongst the ancient
remains of old forts and concrete mats for the guns of war.
See how they contrast with the clearings of open mown
grassland meadows. If the tide is low, explore the shoreline
rocks, or search for marsh samphire to cook at home.
And if you can, come to Grain in the darkness of New
Years Eve. Stand still at our water’s edge, and listen. When
Big Ben strikes midnight, you will hear the chorus of horns
from the ships at rest on their moorings in the Estuary.
Their crews salute each other to celebrate the dawn of the
New Year. All of this out of sight at the start of the Thames,
the lifeline that leads to London.
Michael Dale is a Councillor and sits on the Isle of
Grain St James Parish Council.
If you’d like to visit Grain please contact Michael
(01634270314, [email protected]) for a map of the
Grain Coastal Park and the complex labyrinth of marsh
footpaths.
TALK of the THAMES
37
NEWS - SuDS
Richard Aylard, Director of External Affairs and Sustainability at Thames
Water, explains why the proposed Thames Tideway Tunnel and
Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SuDS) each have a vital role to
play in tackling sewage discharges to the River Thames:
development. There was no practical way
of reversing that situation. That is why he
perpetuated the combined system, with
Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs)
discharging to the river when volumes
became too great. 150 years later,
another six generations of development
have made the situation even more
intractable and the CSOs discharge ever
more frequently.
The development of the Thames
Tideway Tunnel will solve this problem.
Many of the design team cut their
professional teeth on successful schemes,
combining tunnels and SuDS, which have
been completed and provide models for
Richard Aylard
enthusiastic about the potential of
local or targeted SuDS, which is why
they feature in our proposals to
tackling sewer flooding to customers’
properties in the Counter’s Creek
catchment in west London. We expect
that SuDS will increasingly be a part of
other retrofit schemes and will play a
key role in ensuring that new
developments do not add to existing
problems. However, the idea that SuDS
might, on their own, somehow provide
a solution to the modern day scandal
of sewage discharges to the River
Thames is a very different matter, and
one that literally doesn’t hold water in
Sir Joseph Bazalgette memorial
Sir Joseph’s enduring achievement
was to mastermind a solution that
accommodated the practical reality that,
by the 1850s, the city’s natural drainage
had effectively long been requisitioned
as an early sewer system, to facilitate
Georgian and Victorian London’s
property explosion. The accompanying
vast increase in both population and
impermeable surfaces in the north of
the city led to much higher combined
flows, causing serious problems for
drainage, public health and the
cleanliness of the Thames. Bazalgette’s
visionary yet pragmatic drainage plan
dealt with those problems and had
benefits south of the river too, where
development had been held back by the
low-lying, marshy landscape.
Just like the team planning the
Thames Tideway Tunnel today, Bazalgette
did not have the luxury of a blank piece
of paper. He had to deal with the fact
that the city’s drainage and sewage
systems had been evolving together over
many years to keep pace with
38 TALK of the THAMES
Illustration courtesy of: Thames Water
Illustration courtesy of: Thames Water
The Sir Joseph Bazalgette memorial,
tucked away on The Victoria
Embankment at the bottom of
Northumberland Avenue, rewards
close inspection. Sadly overlooked by
the majority of passers-by, it provides
an intriguing insight into the debate
about whether SuDS could provide an
alternative to the Thames Tideway
Tunnel. Although he is justly credited
as the founder of London’s modern
sewer network, the great man’s
memorial, like his own drawings,
actually refers to ‘London’s main
drainage system’.
Old rivers of London
London to follow, such as those in
Portland and Milwaukee. In Portland,
SuDS, are a key component of the
‘Cornerstone Projects’ that complement
improvements to treatment works and
‘storage and transfer’ tunnels to achieve
control of damaging discharges to their
rivers. Other cities, such as Philadelphia,
have ambitious and well-publicised longterm plans for SuDS, but may yet also
need to incorporate similar tunnels in
order to achieve the required degree of
control over discharges.
At Thames Water we are
modern London, any more than it did
in the 1850s.
Nevertheless, the questions about
whether London needs a tunnel at all
require an answer. Surely, we are told,
we should separate the sewage from
the rainwater, or ensure they don’t
mix in the first place, and then capture
the rain water to meet growing
demand for drinking water? Well, if a
new city was being built, of course we
would provide separate sewers and
drainage. But we are dealing with a
very old city and the opportunities for
Illustration courtesy of: Thames Water
Sustainable drainage and the ‘Supersewer’:
It’s not a choice. London needs both.
NEWS - SuDS
Illustration courtesy of: Thames Water
the benefit would be an increase of
around 2.5 per cent. That is worth
having, but achieving it would require
sufficient space for collection, transfer,
storage, treatment and pumping,
distributed around London. That’s a lot
of very expensive and disruptive new
infrastructure. Replacing more
Victorian water mains and retrofitting
water efficient equipment would
provide additional sustainable resource
at a fraction of the cost.
London does not give his memorial
due prominence, but our modern city
owes Sir Joseph Bazalgette a huge
debt. Without him it would not be the
city it is today. Yet look back in the
archives and you will see he was told
his plans were unnecessary, not
practical, too expensive and too
disruptive. As his great-great-grandson,
Sir Peter Bazalgette, observed recently,
some things don’t change.
The problem of combined sewage
discharges to the River Thames needs
practical solutions that reflect London’s
conditions, will achieve the required
standards, and can be implemented
quickly. The river and London as a
whole urgently need the Thames
Tideway Tunnel and also, over time, to
implement SuDS to prevent the existing
problems growing worse. The two
approaches are complementary and we
need to utilise both of them.
We are working hard to deliver the
first half of the equation as fast as we
can, with minimum cost and disruption.
The SuDS dimension is more complex
and will take longer. The Flood and
Water Management Act was a big step
forward. But subsequent progress has
been slower than we would have liked,
and the final pieces in the SuDS jigsaw
of responsibilities are not yet in place.
As soon as they are, we will work with
Councils, businesses and individual
Londoners to achieve the benefits of
SuDS, as a complement to the
proposed Thames Tideway Tunnel.
Central London intercept sewers
long time to drain. And storage that is
full from one rainstorm is no use when
the next one arrives. That is why the
tunnel has been designed to be emptied,
and its contents treated, in less than 48
hours, ready to absorb the next storm.
Yet surely this volume of water would
be a huge benefit to our thirsty city?
Well, let’s look at that. In a typical year,
18 million tonnes of sewage – or heavily
polluted rainwater, if you prefer - enters
the river through the CSOs that the
Thames Tideway Tunnel will intercept.
Assuming we could instead somehow
capture and collect all of this with a new
network of pipes, it could be pumped
underground to replenish the aquifers,
but it would first need to be treated –
even if it were not contaminated with
sewage - to comply with groundwater
legislation. If we could do all that, and
then re-abstract it from the aquifer and
then re-treat and put it into supply, all in
the centre of London, the volume of
drinking water would amount to just
under 50 million litres per day.
We currently supply around 2,000
million litres to London every day, so
Illustration courtesy of: Thames Water
Illustration courtesy of: Thames Water
water sensitive urban design on a large
scale are strictly limited.
The principal problem is one of
sheer scale, with immense volumes of
heavily polluted rainwater needing to
be managed. I was inside the Lee
Tunnel recently. This is the same
diameter as the proposed Thames
Tideway Tunnel and will connect to it. I
can tell you it is awe-inspiring; wide
enough to accommodate three
London buses side by side. When the
tunnels are combined they will stretch
for 20 miles, collect the discharges
from 34 CSOs and have a storage
capacity of 1.5 million tonnes. What
struck me most forcibly was the
realization that this huge space would
fill many times each year and from
single storm events. How else could
that immense volume be captured and
managed in a densely developed city?
The capital self-evidently lacks
sufficient areas of open land to capture
such volumes of water. Even if that were
not the case, the clay and saturated
gravels that underlie much of London
mean that any storage would take a very
A heron amongst a CSO discharge in Hammersmith
The Lee Tunnel under construction
www.thamestunnelconsultation.co.uk
TALK of the THAMES
39
PROJECTS - OPENHOUSE
Getting close to the Estuary – Investigating
Thames infrastructure afloat and afoot
For twenty years London Open House has promoted architecture, engineering and
good design, offering an opportunity for the public to take a closer look at London’s
buildings explains Adam Guy, Thames Estuary Partnership, Special Projects.
Illustration Courtesy of: Steve Speller
Illustration Courtesy of: Steve Speller
But what does this have to do with the Thames Estuary Partnership TOTT readers may ask?
Roland Grzybek at Erith
The concept of a ‘building’ has grown to include many
aspects of the built environment. With the theme this year
of ‘The changing Face of London,’ and an accelerating
investment in infrastructure by the government, Open
House 2012 was of particular significance to the hard-hit
engineering sector.
Currently co-hosting Water Framework Directive and
Nature Improvement Area pilots, and with long involvement
in flood risk management, TEP has always promoted
awareness of the opportunities that infrastructural
development on the tidal Thames can offer.
www.thamesweb.com/estuary_edges
With the Institution of Civil Engineers London Region,
TEP offered two events, a walk past the River Darent
confluence, and a Thames Clipper chartered to visit the
Hoo Peninsula with an audience of 150 Open House
visitors including civil engineers, architects, MPs with
riverside constituencies, and London Assembly Members.
Such events offer a great excuse to get people from all
over the metropolis, including locals, and those actively
involved with the built environment and its future, out and
engaging with the Estuary. We were able to tell stories of
land use, habitat preservation and creation, ensuring and
enhancing water quality, ports and airports, flood defence
works, and improved recreational access; with examples in
front of visitors’ eyes.
Walking the River
Look at an AZ map where the River Darent meets the
Thames near Erith, and you won’t see much. Because
maps of the Estuary margins often don’t show much
40 TALK of the THAMES
Erith Saltings
people assume that there’s not much there to show.
Potentially worse, they might begin to think of this land
as wasteland; valueless or useless territory.
Not everyone thinks so. The Mayor’s London Plan and TfL
nominate seven strategic walking routes and three of these
converge on Erith and the Darent. The Thames Path finishes
at Crayford Ness, and the London Outer Orbital Path
(LOOP) and Green Chain walks set off from Erith.
TEP/ICE developed a walk to indicate aspects of the
‘deep history’ of these white patches on the map and the
boat trip to Hoo allowed us to contextualise issues
shared along the whole Estuary.
Turning our Backs to the River
Erith, where the Open House walk started, was once
important as the nearest deep water to London, the site
of a major Tudor shipyard, and a place where EastIndiamen often discharged their crew before completing
their long voyage home at upstream Blackwall Docks.
Industrially successful because of its position Erith fed
agricultural produce from Kent, via the Darent, to
London along the Thames. Imported raw materials were
also processed here, into for example armaments, milled
and printed goods, and processed oils. The town even
tried to re-invent itself as a Victorian resort, with the
building of the Deep Water Pier.
However, after industrial decline and massive WWII
bombing, this town turned its back on the river and
embraced the car, with ‘60s town centre development
replacing the waterfront community. This is a story
echoed in other estuary communities, where inhabitants
may be barely aware of the existence of the river ‘over
the wall’.
PROJECTS - OPENHOUSE
Managing Flood Risk
Are you interested in a TEP walk or
boat trip?
From the boat Jean Venables, former TEP Chair and Past
President of the ICE, explained the workings of the miles of
Environment Agency managed sea wall, particularly evident
around the Hoo Peninsula.
For walkers Halcrow Flood Risk Director, Roland
Grzybek indicated the extent of the land that would be at
risk from surge tides without the existing flood risk
management system, and explained the plans to upgrade it
to counter the uncertainty of climate-change related sealevel rise, through the Environment Agency’s ambitious
TE2100 Plan. Roland said,
[email protected]
See also:
Illustration Courtesy of: Steve Speller
Illustration Courtesy of: Steve Speller
www.ice.org.uk/london
www.thamesweb.com/city_to_sea
www.thamesweb.com/thames_estuary_path
www.londonopenhouse.org
www.thamesclippers.com
www.walklondon.org.uk
Barking Barrier
“Many people living and working in London have two
favourite misconceptions. As the Thames Barrier is there we no
longer need to worry about London flooding, and that this
barrier alone protects them. However, there are over 300
kilometres of fixed flood defences in the estuary and many
movable gates that supplement the Thames Barrier to protect
the tributaries upstream and downstream, that the Environment
Agency operate, maintain and manage, and have done reliably
for years. TE2100 is about maintaining that reliability to the end
of the century and beyond.”
Saltings and Mudflats
A wildflower-strewn path follows the tidal embankment around
Crayford Marshes and we were able to contrast low-lying
reclaimed marsh land with the unique Erith Saltings. Once
covering large areas of the flood-plain littoral, even as far
up-steam as Southwark, saltmarsh formerly typified the edges of
estuaries. This habitat is extremely complex, extremely sensitive,
and extremely threatened (See pp 28-29 this edition). Erith
Saltings are a thousand year-old relict of these once ubiquitous
marshlands, the last original patch remaining in the Estuary.
At low tide, a sunken forest is also visible here. The stumps
of trees that grew in the Neolithic Age (c5,000 years ago), and
were killed by rising sea-levels in the early Iron Age (c2,000
yrs ago), were only discovered in the 1990s after being
exposed through erosion of the mudflats. The site illustrates
the dynamic and ever-changing nature of the Estuary.
Reclamation and Return
Crayford Marshes were wrested from the sea in the
12th-13th Centuries. Unfortunately much of this the land has
either been over-farmed, become dried and shrunken, or has
Jean Venables at the Thames Barrier
been contaminated by past industry and waste dumping, and
was often virtually abandoned until the post-war building
boom began. The expense of defending it against further sealevel rise is an open debate. Some of this ‘borrowed land’
could be, and is being, ‘given back’ to the river providing
replacement habitat for that being lost to ‘coastal squeeze’ or
large-scale infrastructural development.
It is becoming clear that the benefits of saltmarsh are
greater than simply providing a habitat for plants and animals
though. The marsh itself is a highly effective defence against
storms and tides, it sequesters carbon at rates equivalent to
rain forest, and it can act as a filter for water-borne pollutants.
It is also commercially important to fisheries as feeding and
spawning ground. Such ‘ecosystem services’ are being
increasingly integrated into the multi-stakeholder, landscapescale approach to land stewardship that TEP champions.
Getting closer to the Water
Surprisingly few people visit the Thames outside central
London, even if they live nearby. To take a boat to Hoo in the
time available we had to charter a Thames Clipper. The
territory can be challenging. Though the walk was gloriously
sunny, the boat was turned back for London at Holehaven
Creek, after meeting bad weather.
TEP feel that by getting close to the Thames people will
better understand the complex story that we try to tell. Open
House has shown that there is an appetite for this approach.
This year over 250,000 people attended more than 790
buildings and events. Typically, walks and guided trips such as
ours were oversubscribed by a factor of 20 to 1, and our
events were fully booked within 24 hours of advertisement.
Whilst TEP have a strong record of leading people to the
story, we would like to take more.
TALK of the THAMES
41
FEATURES - ESTUARYENTREPRENEURS
Businessmen that started
Southend’s Seaside Success Story
Carol Edwards traces the history of two pioneering families who made their fortunes from
day trippers to Southend-on-Sea.
Illustration Courtesy of and copyright: Francis Frith Collection
Henry and Ernest Absalom
The development of the
English seaside since the
1700s has been well
documented. In the early
years, it was only royalty and
the upper classes who had
the time and money to
indulge themselves in this
new fad for ‘taking the
waters’. Having first offered
an exclusive experience, and
enjoyed royal patronage,
Southend expanded as a
Henry Absalom
resort to welcome ‘the
masses’ as trips to the seaside began to fall within their
reach. Two entrepreneurs who spearheaded Southend’s
development were Henry Absalom (1827-1904) and John
Jaquest (1854-1939).
Henry Absalom lived and worked in Prittlewell, which in
the 1820s was a small fishing village, with a few cottages on
the shoreline. As the popularity of the seaside grew in the
1850s, so did the demand for public houses and Absalom
first managed the Falcon on Marine Parade, which is still
there today.
Undressing on the beach was against the law, and with so
many ‘trippers’ queuing up for changing boxes on wheels,
Henry quickly saw the opportunity. He purchased bathing
machines to serve the needs of the growing numbers of
visitors. With further wise investments in oyster beds and
property on and behind the thriving Marine Parade the
Absalom fortune grew.
Henry’s youngest child, Ernest, took the family empire to
another level. Like his father, Ernest invested heavily in
building around the town as the population grew and demand
for housing increased. In 1903 he purchased the large floating
bath, moored by the famous Southend pier, from the Ingram
family. A converted barge, it offered swimmers four to five
feet of water regardless of the tide, as well as the luxury of
John, Leonard and Albert Jaquest
John Jaquest and his family came to Southend from
Marylebone, London in 1901. His skills as a builder were in
demand as more and more estates were springing up
behind the Kursaal pleasure dome, which occupied a large
site on the seafront. Within a few months John had himself
purchased a small fish shop and restaurant right next to
the Kursaal.
This business served locals and visitors through World War
I and in 1920 Jaquest opened the Beehive restaurant, a few
doors along from his original business. His son Leonard later
developed the restaurant’s potential by catering for
Southend’s charabanc visitors. With parking opposite the
restaurant and seating for up to 400 diners, this was a perfect
arrangement for the trippers.
Leonard’s brother Albert opened a greengrocer’s shop on
the same parade, as well as a café, the Sunflower. The Jaquests
continued trading on the seafront until the outbreak of World
War II. For Albert’s children and grandchildren this was just
the beginning, as they opened cafés and coffee bars across
Southend throughout the 1950s and ‘60s.
Carol Edwards’ book Seaside Entrepreneurs, tells the
full story of the Absalom and Jaquest families. Available
on Amazon, price £6.99 or direct from Carol Edwards
(01702 332396, [email protected]) price £5.50
plus £1.30 postage.
Illustration Courtesy of and copyright: Francis Frith Collection
42 TALK of the THAMES
changing rooms, all for 6d a go. These baths did a roaring
trade up until the outbreak of World War I when Ernest
Absalom was forced to remove his floating bath from its
prime location.
At the end of the War in 1918 Ernest was keen to return
the baths to their original site but his request was refused
as the local council had by now built a permanent swimming
pool on the seafront. This proved to be the end for the
Absalom enterprise, and within a few years they were no
longer a part of Southend’s seaside heritage.
Ernest Absalom’s bathing machine
NEWS - SOUTHENDOYSTERS
Harvesting of Pacific Oysters
on the Southend foreshore
Kent & Essex
Inshore Fisheries and
Conservation Authority
Illustration Courtesy of and copyright: Kent & Essex IFCA
Dominic Bailey – Senior Scientific and Conservation Officer, Kent & Essex Inshore Fisheries
and Conservation Authority explains the dos and don’ts of shellfish collection.
Pacific Rock Oysters
Kent & Essex Inshore Fisheries and
Conservation Authority (IFCA) was
created under the Marine and Coastal
Access Act 2009 and is a regulating
body which enforces its own byelaws
and orders as well as national and EU
legislation relating to sea fisheries. The
Authority is comprised of sitting
councillors, industry and recreational
representatives, scientists, marine
experts, and environmental
representatives who meet quarterly to
discuss issues and reports presented
to them by the regional officers.
Meetings are open to the public with
agenda items being announced and
published on the Kent & Essex IFCA
website prior to the meeting.
The Southend foreshore has long
been important to both local
fishermen and the public for its
abundance of shellfish. Cockles and
mussels have historically been
collected in this part of the Thames
Estuary. The collection of cockles in
the Thames estuary is well known and
is regulated by the Thames Estuary
Cockle Fishery Order. A license
issued by Kent & Essex IFCA is
required to harvest cockles in this
area. In addition to cockles, other
shellfish species including clams and
mussels are found on the Southend
foreshore. One of the most noticeable
species in the area in the intertidal
zone has been the native mussel.
However, extensive areas of the
Southend foreshore, which supported
several mussel beds, have in recent
years changed to being primarily
comprised of Pacific Rock Oysters.
Pacific Rock Oysters were
introduced to the UK in the 1960’s
in order to support the demand for
oysters which the existing Native
Oyster stocks could not fulfil. At
this time, it was thought that this
species would not be able to
reproduce in our colder waters. This
has been shown not to be the case
and Pacific Oysters are now a
prominent feature around the coast.
Pacific Rock Oysters are an
important economic species, vital to
the economic stability of the oyster
industry in the Kent & Essex IFCA
district. However if left un-harvested
they can form reefs which may then
outcompete native species and in
intertidal foreshore areas such as
Southend become a hazard to human
recreational activities due to the
sharp shells within the reef.
In recent years, both members
of the public and commercial
fishermen have been seen hand
gathering these oysters from the
foreshore at Southend. There is no
specific fisheries legislation in place
for the collection of this species.
However there is environmental
health legislation in place to ensure
that any oysters harvested for
commercial purposes are fit for
human consumption. Any collection
of shellfish by individuals other than
commercial fishermen can only be for
personal use and may not be sold or
offered for sale and should be cooked
before consumption.
Since individuals and commercial
fishermen started collecting the
oysters from the foreshore at
Southend, it appears that native
mussel stocks on the foreshore are
starting to become re-established.
Kent & Essex IFCA work closely with
Natural England within the designated
Special Protected Area (SPA) which
includes Southend foreshore, and in
the coming months are going to be
carrying out intertidal surveys on
these mixed beds of oysters and
mussels to establish the size, extent
and structure of these populations.
Further information regarding
the work of Kent & Essex IFCA
as well as information on local
byelaws and ways to stay
informed can be found on the
Kent and Essex IFCA website at
www.kentandessex-ifca.gov.uk
TALK of the THAMES
43
EVENTS - WHEREANDWHEN
Events
SPECIAL EVENTS
1953 East Coast Floods 60th
Anniversary
There will be many events along the
East Coast and in the Thames Estuary
to commemorate the flood of January
31st and February 1st sixty years ago
in which over 300 UK citizens died.
The worst affected places were:
Sutton-on-Sea (over 16 dead);
Hunstanton and Wells (65 Dead);
Felixstowe (over 40 dead); Jaywick
(37dead); Canvey Island (59 dead).
Events are planned by each community.
Below are some of more immediate
relevance to the Thames Estuary.
Essex County
Commemoration Service –
Chelmsford Cathedral
Thursday January 31st 2013
The service will be attended by MPs,
local councillors and key community
figures. It is expected that a member
of the Royal Family will attend, echoing
visits to the affected coastline areas
following the events of 1953. There
will be significant local media coverage.
For more information see:
www.chelmsfordcathedral.org.uk
Thames Discovery Programme
Find out more about Museum of
London Archaeology’s award-winning
community archaeology project through
the Thames Discovery Programme
website: www.thamesdiscovery.org
You can also follow us on:
www.facebook.com
ThamesDiscoveryProgramme
twitter.com/ThamesDiscovery
Peter Kent Illustrations at the
Greenwich Gallery
An exhibition of Peter’s maritime
drawings of the fantastic river events
that contributed to the celebration of
the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee during
2012 and to the remarkable hosting of
the Olympic Games in London. High
quality prints will be available for
purchase.
44 TALK of the THAMES
Canvey Island Memory Day
Friday 1st February 2013
About 1.30am on the night of 31st
January 2013 will mark the 60th
anniversary of the Canvey Floods
which devastated the island costing the
lives of 58 islanders, and led to the
temporary evacuation of the then
13,000 residents. The Flood has been
described as one of the worst
peacetime disasters in Britain.
The Town Council is hoping to mark
the anniversary in partnership with
Essex County Council by unveiling a
commemorative plaque, holding a
short service and providing a display of
information to mark the anniversary
on Friday, 1st February 2013 from
11am at Canvey Library.
More information:
www.canveyisland-tc.gov.uk
Canvey Island Library
2 High Street, Canvey Island,
Essex SS8 7RB
01268 683741
[email protected]
www.essex.gov.uk/libraries
Peter has illustrated many publications
and his work is well known amongst
the Thames Estuary community.
December 6th – December 24th
The Greenwich Gallery, Peyton Place,
Greenwich, London SE10 8RS
For more information: 0208 465 5968
[email protected]
www.thegreenwichgallery.com
Where’s Jill?
TEP’s Executive Director
Jill Goddard is always out
and about on the Estuary.
But where is she in this photo?
The answer is somewhere in this
issue of TOTT!
2012 Festive Pub Walk
December Saturday 8th: 2-4pm
Almost as much a tradition as
Christmas itself, this wintry wander
‘cross the rascally heath will stir the
seasonal senses and warm the
yuletide cockles. There’ll be
carousing in the Dog & Bell
afterwards but please tether your
reindeer outside.
Meet outside Blackheath Rail
Station
Habitat Work Session
December Wednesday 12th:
10am-1pm
Explore the reasons for management
work on habitats, and then roll your
sleeves up and get warm helping out.
Meet at Chinbrook Meadows
car park Amblecote Road
Mince Pie Malaise Mitigation
(A New Year Stroll)
January Saturday 12th: 11am-1pm
Start the year as you mean to go on
by ignoring every resolution you’ve
made and exclaiming: ‘Stuff the turkey,
I’m going for a walk!’
Meet outside Catford Bridge
Station at Adenmore Road
Exit
Habitat Work Session
January Wednesday 23rd: 10am-1pm
Explore the reasons for management
work on habitats, and then roll your
sleeves up and get warm helping out.
Meet at Ladywell Fields by
Café/Rangers Hut
For further details: 07870 736 793
Email: [email protected]
More information:
www.natureconservationlewisham.co.uk
20 !
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Check out the events page and the
FROGBLog for all the latest news from
the foreshore, including fieldwork
reports, notices of forthcoming winter
walks and FROG training sessions.
Lighting of Beacons along the
Coast
Night of Thursday 31st January Friday1st February 2013
For more information see social media
and: www.essexresilience.info
If you think you
know where Jill
is, just send us an
email naming the location
to [email protected]
by the 31st March 2013.
All correct entries will be put
into a hat and the winner drawn.
In the last edition Jill was at
Tilbury Fort, with the wharves
of Tilbury Power Station behind
her. Congratulations to Martin
Lawson who has been sent a £20
John Lewis voucher.