Letter: Complicated Divisions of Responsibilities Likely to Delay Weir Repairs

Published on: 6 Nov, 2019
Updated on: 6 Nov, 2019

From George London

In response to: Confusion Over Who Must Pay For Repairs to Collapsed Weir

My property backs onto the river and, yes, it is complicated. The National Trust only owns the navigation (and not necessarily the sluices and weirs), and they don’t own the non-canalised bits (ie the original, natural river). They own the navigation rights and some hardware, but they don’t necessarily own the river banks or even the water.

I wanted to do some remedial work the river bank and was it was my responsibility to repair the bank, not theirs.

But I also had to get the Trust to make sure I hadn’t crossed onto their property with the repairs. Furthermore, the navigation is subject to a Conservation Area order, so it does involve the council (luckily in my case, it stops at the National Trust boundary).

Any works that may affect water flow have to have approval from the Environment Agency. Thames Water, who operate the sewage works in Godalming and Guildford might also have an interest.

It will probably take months to work out who is responsible for what and how it will be fixed, as the National Trust, GBC and the Environment Agency will all be involved. It will then take months to repair it.