Outcry at plans to sell off lock keeper's houses

An environmental action group has condemned proposals by the Environment Agency (EA) to sell 10 River Thames lock keeper houses as part of an efficiency review. 

The group, ThamesAwash, believes the decision will have a devastating effect on lock keeper morale and may increase the likelihood of flooding. 

Boulters Gardens and Ray Mill Road lock houses in Maidenhead, and Glade Road in Marlow have been identified by the EA as suitable for sale.  

Chairman of ThamesAwash Ewan Larcombe said: "Just considering plans to liquidate national assets without consultation with all affected parties exposes the shallow and short term thinking of the Environment Agency. 

"Now Thames side communities are threatened with an ever increasing probability of flooding due to lack of dredging and lack of continuing maintenance for flood defence purposes."

But Eileen McKeever, Thames Waterways manager at the Environment Agency (EA), said this week that the agency is confident that little will change to the way the lock is operated.
"Many of the lock keepers in different areas of the country do not live on the site, and the lock operates adequately," she said.

Maidenhead MP Theresa May said: “I am dismayed that the Environment Agency has decided to go ahead and sell off our much loved lock keepers cottages. The reassuring presence of Lockkeepers is both a practical necessity and a tradition; and locks are also often visitor attractions. 

"We are lucky to have such a beautiful stretch of the Thames in our area, but the Environment Agency cannot continue to cut back on the resources for maintaining the river. Instead of cutting back, the Environment Agency should be working to help even more people enjoy the locks.”

The Advertiser has been speaking to a Cookham lock keeper's wife about the impact on her family and the lock. 
For the full story see this week's Advertiser..