Drone shots taken above Brede Sluice show the extent of the bank collapse following last Thursday night’s storm. Emergency repairs to the river bank and restoring access to Castle Mill Cottages has been taking place all week, with the Environment Agency (EA) describing the structure as “failing.”
The footage, taken by Stu Cooper from Clear Air Flying in Winchelsea, was shot on the morning of Tuesday October 22 and show the further erosion of the river bank since last week.
The damaged roadway near the sluice was discovered after heavy evening rain on October 17, with the area quickly cordoned off the following morning. The failed bank has not affected the operation of Brede Sluice although some debris did catch the bottom seals of the tidal gates over the weekend. This has now washed out and the gates are operating as normal.
The current plan is to use piling to stabilise the bottom of the landslip and then fill behind with rock and clay. The road, which gives access to the cottages, will then be laid on top.
In the full statement given to Rye News, the EA confirmed the ongoing repairs at Brede Sluice are part of work to reduce flood risk in Rye. “These emergency works on the failing structure are taking place during an exceptionally wet autumn, resulting in very high river flows which have caused major erosion of the riverbanks that supported a local access road. We are taking immediate action to reinstate the riverbanks and complete the vital sluice repairs so that flood risk in the area is reduced ahead of further winter rainfall.”
Image Credits: www.clearairflying.com , www.clearairflying.com/ .
The EA did not comment on whether the repair work contributed to the bank collapse? What on earth did the EA expect. Sticking a barge in front of a flow of water in a contained environment would of course alter the dynamics. And I say that from experience working in the offshore construction industry where scouring and seabed erosion where treated with the respect they deserved. You change natures water course at your peril.
So the environment agency are not commenting on the cause of the bank collapse,which everybody knows it was caused by the damming of the river, with works abandoned to a later date,with no thought of extreme weather conditions. The whole saga of the brede sluice gates have been a disaster from the beginning, whoever thought of putting new lock gates on the side of the old structure was asking for trouble,hence all this chaos and disrupting other people’s lives,and it will be interesting at what cost.It would have probably been cheaper to knock the lock keepers cottage down and realign and widen the road with a new bridge, and safety measures at the T junction at the top of the harbour road,with a pedestrian island in the middle, for the safety of New Winchelsea road residents and others accessing and leaving this dangerous junction.
What amazing pictures. I feel for the inhabitants of Castle Mill Cottages. So good that the EA responded quickly.
Jane,
The EA have created this debacle. Clearly their forward planning, due diligence, risk assessment and if they bothered their ‘modelling’ has either not been done or is seriously wanting.
They should not be ‘bigged up’ for responding quickly but should be embarrassed at the expensive (tax payer funded) mess they have made.
Our MP, Helena Dollimore is very much aware of the challenges we face here in Rye and has been chewing ears, including mine to ensure this is dealt with asap. It’s good to we matter. I’m glad I among many others worked so hard to elect Helena as our MP. Upwards and onwards.
Given the amount of voters (buyers) remorse I’m pretty certain the ‘many others’ might be reducing in number?
Upwards and onwards indeed, as an OAP in Rye I’ll be happy to settle for sidewards but it looks like it’s going to be downwards and backwards.