Thames Landscape Strategy - Hampton to Kew -

Arcadian Diary - November 2004

November is traditionally the worst month of the year for riverside rubbish. As the leaves fall from the trees and the accumulated summer debris is released on the high autumn tides (actually still called ‘spring tides’) a large amount of litter is deposited along the riverside. Known as flotsam and jetsam (a far too nice a term, I think, for what is effectively a cocktail of plastic cups, nappies and cotton wool buds bound together in a floating soup of organic matter) this line of rubbish along the tideway causes more complaints from the public than anything else that I have to deal with.

This autumn however, I am pleased to say that the amount of flotsam and jetsam is significantly down on previous years. This is not to say that there is still not some accumulated garbage down by the river but on the whole it is looking much better. Last year we at the Thames Landscape Strategy put together a plan to tackle the problem (outlined in a previous ‘Arcadian Diary’). We undertook this plan working through the ‘London’s Arcadia’ project in partnership with the London Borough of Richmond and local volunteers.

We are extremely pleased to see that our work has made a significant difference after only one year and in my excitement I would like to remind you of some of the innovations. I just hope this is not too premature as November’s high tides are forecast now and could bring with them a deluge of litter!

We schedule in the dates for the tides and have regular litter blitzes following each spring tide (remember these take place each month and not just in the spring). These remove the bulky litter as it accumulates meaning that debris does not build up over the summer to be flushed out at once in the late autumn. This work is supplemented with more detailed litter picking along and on the river by volunteers, something which we have been doing over the past couple of weeks during the draw-off. In some cases litter picking has become quite spontaneous. For example I know of one local councillor who if the riverside is in a bit of state will happily don his wellies and go down to the riverside to fill a couple of bin bags.

In addition, the Council has significantly improved the collection of litter at key honey pot sites such as Richmond Riverside, removing a multitude of plastic cups and empty beer cans before they have the chance to enter the river. This is no easy task and the initiative should be widely celebrated. Also, over the summer when the weather was hot we have been putting out mini skips along the river so that the many riverside users have somewhere to put their rubbish. I know it’s not a universally held view but believe it or not the vast majority of people do seem to actively seek out a litterbin. Where there is no bin they will carry their rubbish until one is found. The problem occurs when bins are full and overflowing or in areas where there is already rubbish strewn on the ground. So the provision of these small skips cannot be understated.

Fingers crossed that this week’s tides don’t bring a deluge of litter – it is bound to deposit some but think back to previous years and we should all be very pleased.

Another exciting development along the river last month was the opening of the new Teddington Lock mooring. Known as a ‘lay-by’ this provides one of the most important facilities to be constructed on the Thames in recent years. One of the great joys about walking by the river is watching boats cruise past. But to have boats we must have the facilities for them to be able to use the river. It is incredible to think that until the Teddington lay-by was constructed there were no accessible public moorings between Kingston and Chiswick, effectively making messing about on that particular stretch of the water very difficult. This lack of facilities (made much worse by the sale of boat yards for housing) has had a devastating effect on the use of the Thames and the statistics speak for themselves. Between 1980 and 2000, holiday boat hire on the Thames fell by 77% and between 1990 and 2000 private boat use fell by 30%. This said, the Environment Agency (who manage the navigation upstream of Teddington Lock) has recently begun to notice a reversal in fortunes. Last year actually saw a 4.7% increase in the number of licences for powerboats and visiting boats were up by a whopping 19%.

Much of this can be attributed to a Government review in 2000 which recommended that the Environment Agency take a much more active role in encouraging boaters back onto the Thames. The Teddington work is a positive step forward and was no easy task. The lay-by cost the Agency a staggering £1.5m and took six months to complete. It involved installing 300m of steel sheet piling to protect the existing bank and the building of a ramp to make access easier. Previously boaters had to scurry up and down a stone shelf to enter their craft. The steel piling was clad underwater with timber to provide habitats for invertebrates, and fish refuge pipes were laid on the riverbed at the base of the piles. All in all a very nice piece of work and another example of the slow but steady reversal in the fortunes of our River Thames.

RIVER FACT
One of the less common birds on the Thames is the bar-headed goose. Introduced to this country for its decorate plumage, the goose is originally from Asia, breeding in southern India and over-wintering around Russia. Amazingly the bird is able to migrate over the top of the world’s highest mountains – the Himalayas!

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