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A storm in January and a record high river brought down a huge amount of gravel and created a gravel bar which inhibits water reaching the turbines. Fortunately we still do have some water flow and we are literally ticking over on single screw operation, despite there being no meaningful rain since February.
The gravel floods have brought down has effectively lifted the bed of the river below the turbines by about twenty-five centimetres, much reducing the head over the weir. (The greater the water drop – head - the more energy is created, and vice versa.) This needs to be tackled by dredging and here the Environment Agency is causing us serious problems; a nightmare of mismanaged red tape and bureaucracy. The Permit to Dredge they have issued us is not fit for the purposes we need and impractical to operate. We are in the process of appeal; not easy. They are stone-walling to cover a whole history of maladministration. This particular episode has been going on for well over a year so we missed last summer’s window to dredge, and at a cost. The indication is that last financial year was £5,000 below budget and we are facing escalating dredging costs.

Reading between the lines of two long reports the EA produced in their full-of-nonsense response, totalling seventy pages, they want to close us down by attrition and use us as a template for leverage to shut down other Hydro operations in line with the aims of Association of European Anglers who detest hydros. The Inspector who will arbitrate over our appeal for common sense has set up an on-line public meeting mid-June. More details asking for your support will follow.