Unlocking the River Severn: Powick and Knightsford
Updated 27 February 2019
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/unlocking-the-river-severn-powick-and-knightsford/unlocking-the-river-severn-powick-and-knightsford
The £22 million Unlocking the River Severn project, the largest of its kind ever attempted in Europe, will re-open the UK’s longest river to all fish species whilst reconnecting millions of people and local communities with the lost natural, cultural and industrial heritage of the river. It aims to address the physical barriers and secure the long term future of many of the UK’s declining and protected fish species, particularly historically economically vital species such as the now threatened twaite and allis shad, by substantially increasing access to 253 kilometres of historic spawning grounds that fish require to complete their complex life cycles.
The project will also benefit other critically declining species such as salmon and the European eel.
As part of the project, fish access improvements will be made on 2 Environment Agency owned weirs on the River Teme and 4 navigation weirs, owned by the Canal & River Trust, on the River Severn.
Unlocking the Severn is a partnership project, led by the Canal & River Trust with the Environment Agency, Severn Rivers Trust and Natural England.
Powick Weir, River Teme
The Environment Agency partially removed Powick Weir in summer 2018 to improve fish passage. The final design focussed on creating the most effective flow conditions to assist twaite shad migrate upstream, which will also enable all other fish species simpler migration too.
The central sections of the weir were lowered with the left bank abutment retained for historical, hydraulic and environmental reasons. A naturalised rocky bed was placed, with a low flow channel specifically designed to ensure a section of water is at the right depth and velocity to best assist the twaite shad’s migration upstream. The existing salmon fish pass was removed.
Environment Agency Officers took steps to safeguard all fish when water was temporarily removed from important areas around the weir during the construction works. They caught and moved fish to appropriate locations up and down stream – using the opportunity to collect data to further understand the health of the fishery and levels of protected species. The Mill Leat was the focus of much of the fish rescues and officers were pleased with the number of fish and variety of species. During one of the fish rescue days, 360 fish were relocated from the Mill Leat consisting of salmon, trout, grayling, barbel, chub, dace, roach, perch, pike, gudgeon, eels, elvers, lamprey and a few minor species such as minnow, bullhead and stoneloach.
Knightsford Bridge Weir, River Teme
The Environment Agency is installing a bespoke rock ramp at Knightsford Bridge Weir. The weir is an existing gauging station and cannot be removed as it provides a suitable water depth for the new electronic gauging system that has been recently installed. As the weir needs to be retained, a bespoke rock ramp fish pass has been designed to suit the specific migratory requirements of twaite shad which predominantly migrate under low water flow conditions. The existing concrete weir will be adapted to enable the rock ramp to be installed, with the rocks extending a further 35 metres downstream at a shallow gradient and creating the necessary conditions for twaite shad to pass the weir. Environmental, bathymetric and hydraulic surveys have been undertaken to develop the design, with the final design modelled to assess any changes to the river levels.
Work was started in summer 2018 but paused over the winter months to ensure the remaining work can be completed safely, given the risk of fast rising river levels from rainfall in the catchment upstream, and to specification. It will recommence and be completed in summer 2019.
The river water downstream may become temporarily discoloured when work is taking place in the channel due to silt disturbance. This may have an impact on angling and mitigation measures to collect the silt will be in place. The Environment Agency will be monitoring water quality throughout the works. If you have any concerns please contact the Site Manager in the first instance, or the Environment Agency’s incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60 if he is unavailable.
Contact
For enquiries about work taking place on the River Teme (Powick Weir and Knightsford Bridge Weir) contact Lara Williams in the Environment Agency’s Engagement Team via email at engagement_westmids@environment-agency.gov.uk or post:
Environment Agency
Riversmeet House
Newtown Industrial Estate, Northway Lane
Tewkesbury
Gloucestershire
GL20 8JG
More information about the Unlocking the Severn project is available here.