Don't want automated weir

WITH a weir on the Thames protecting Appleton, the residents are up in arms after being told it will no longer be operated by a lock keeper but will be automatic.

At a cost of £2.5 millions the Environment Agency is to automate the weir on the river, but local residents fear that not only could it fail but that such a large amount of money could be better spent elsewhere.

Health and safety

Northmoor weir is currently a manually operated paddle and rymer system controlled by a lock keeper, but the Environment Agency have brought in the health and safety excuse, stating it is no longer safe for lock keepers to operate.

A campaign against the automation has been mounted, with one campaigner, Mike Hill, stating that one particular lock keeper worked there 30 year with no health or safety issues, and that the weir would last 40 years without any modification, and wonders what the real reason is for spending all that money.

A spokesman for the Environment Agency told that the system uses heavy pieces of wood that were beyond the legal weight a person is now allowed to move.