Danger Concern Over Weed On Hickling

[Boaters]

This in the paper today !

 

http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/news/weeds-growth-raises-questions-over-safety-of-hickling-broad-users-1-5169197

[Vaughan]

Here we go again - Death Weed on Hickling.

As a distant observer it would seem to me that there are too many vested interests who all want their own "input" to the management of that area.

At least the good Doctor got in another photo opportunity to plug the National Park. I thought that was supposed to be for marketing - not weed management?

 

[JennyMorgan]

Once again we need to remind ourselves that the Broads is NOT legally a national park, a fact acknowledged by the Broads Authority itself. We also need to remind ourselves that the Authority is the navigation authority, that boaters pay for over half the Authority's overheads, that the Authority is legally obliged to maintain the navigable waterways. The so called navigation channel was created so that visitors would not get lost, that they would be able to find the village, not as a legally binding channel. Once again the Authority is clearly showing its real intent, conservation by exclusion.

[grendel]

is the channel wide enough for a sailing boat to tack along it without going outside the markers?

[marshman]

Easily!

[Labrador]

1 minute ago, grendel said:

is the channel wide enough for a sailing boat to tack along it without going outside the markers?

Mostly Yes, however if you are a deeper draft yacht it is a bit tedious. 

[TheQ]

Now they've dredged it is, The bigger broads sailing cruisers stick to the channel all the way up to Hickling sailing club. Those who go astray in the wrong places can stop fairly rapidly. Those who know the broad know where else they can go.

Before the dredging we were hitting mud in the channel while drawing 3ft.

[marshman]

PW - my first memories of Hickling go back to the early 60's and then Hickling was far worse for weed than it is even now! Cannot even remember who was in charge of navigation then (was it your favourites the P & H Commissioners? ) and they didn't succeed then in closing the Broad and I doubt the BA will do now, especially when this winter I am expecting them to continue the dredging programme, subject the all the surrounding landowners and  seemingly every other officious bodies agreeing to it continuing.

As you know weed growth is very difficult to predict as it involves many many factors - water temperature, water quality etc etc. The trouble is Hickling is also  home to rare water plants and you know as well as I, you cannot even f**t up there without permission from Natural England. I recall all those years ago, the bodies concerned appointed a bod to try and understand what was happening, and no sooner had she ( sorry! ) been appointed, then it all died off and disappeared!!

Waterwise it is an odd place, probably due to the saline incursions, and it is always almost up in this area that prymnesium occurs at its worst when it does. Incidentally I probably missed the appropriate thread, but it seems that the UEA after much research seemed to have found something to help in those distressing times - hydrogen peroxide! Not sure where they will get hold of the vast quantities needed (Essex? ) or how they are going to bung it in the Broad but perhaps we will have blonde fish?? Still it is positive news I hope?

Perhaps next year we shall have a cold winter, a cold spring and lots of rain, and who knows perhaps another type of weed will then grow in abundance but the article generally is typical of Archants latest offerings!

[LondonRascal]

Well, just seen this in the Broadland Mercury - took a scan and attached a PDF of the article..

BroadlandMercuryArticle.30.08.17.arch1(21).pdf

 

 

 

[JennyMorgan]

8 hours ago, grendel said:

is the channel wide enough for a sailing boat to tack along it without going outside the markers?

It is but that can become tedious, especially for those who race. Yes or no, not the issue, the BA is obliged,, by Act of Parliament, to maintain all navigable waters as were navigable in 1986. 

Marsh, was it not the NRA back in the 1960's/70's? They didn't manage to close Hickling to boating, but then I doubt that was ever their intention.

[ExMemberBobdog]

Whether or not the Broads is a National Park is a complete red herring in the issue of weed on Hickling.  Hickling has been designated as an SSSI by Natural England, and as such any weed clearance work has to be authorised by Natural England, and the SSSI designation overrides the BA responsibility to keep the navigation open.  In my opinion the BA has been doing its best to cut weed in the upper Thurne, within the constraints laid down by the SSSI, albeit they have seemed to be fighting a losing battle at times (their weed harvester has been in regular attendance on Hickling, towards West Somerton, on Horsey etc this summer) in what has been an exceptional season for plant growth.  That growth has made sailing difficult this year, and the upper Thurne is my 'home' playground in my halfdecker, so I'm acutely aware of the fact.  I'm also aware that this kind of growth is cyclical, based on the weather conditions, and as rapidly as the weed has spread this year it could just as rapidly die back next.

[ChrisB]

The lack of cold winters is not helping, there has not been a real ice up of the open waters for at least four years. There was a time you winterised your mower at end of October and got it out mid to end march, January is the only month I seem not to mow now.

[Vaughan]

1 hour ago, Bobdog said:

Whether or not the Broads is a National Park is a complete red herring in the issue of weed on Hickling.  Hickling has been designated as an SSSI by Natural England, and as such any weed clearance work has to be authorised by Natural England, and the SSSI designation overrides the BA responsibility to keep the navigation open.

This is just as I suspected in my earlier post. Surely this situation is most sinister, for the future of navigation north of Potter bridge?

[Polly]

Weed meant no trip up to West Somerton last week, boatyard requested we didn't take Bootlegger there. We planned to go to Horsey, but were advised against it by a skipper moored in Candle Dyke, so assumed it was worse than we expected. Shame, because both would have been on the itinerary otherwise.

[Boaters]

The problem has been around a long time.I bought a Seagull outbound from Beatles garage ,opposite the Staithe in the seventies as Mr Beale hired out dinghies with outboards on the Broad but gave up as he was constantly " rescuing " those that had stopped due to the week on prop and cooling tubes .A lovely helpful man ,used to serve petrol from a hand operated pump..As a side ,sold that engine ,still running forty years later for the same money I paid for it.

[MauriceMynah]

2 hours ago, Bobdog said:

as such any weed clearance work has to be authorised by Natural England, and the SSSI designation overrides the BA responsibility to keep the navigation open.

Is that accurate? Does it apply to the channel as well?

I can understand it if the expanse outside the channel could be protected in that way but surely not within the channel itself. 

[Polly]

The channel at Hickling was absolutely clear.

[Paladin]

2 hours ago, Bobdog said:

Whether or not the Broads is a National Park is a complete red herring in the issue of weed on Hickling.  Hickling has been designated as an SSSI by Natural England, and as such any weed clearance work has to be authorised by Natural England, and the SSSI designation overrides the BA responsibility to keep the navigation open.

Sites of Special Scientific Interest are designated, and protected, under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Carrying out carry out a controlled activity on an SSSI without Natural England’s permission is an offence under that Act.

However, under the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads Act 1988, the Broads Authority has a statutory duty ”...to manage the Broads for the purposes of...protecting the interests of navigation.”

When two statutes conflict, the general principle is that the latter prevails over the former. Therefore, in my opinion, if the interests of the navigation on Hickling Broad were threatened by the overgrowth of weed, the Broads Authority would be empowered, under the 1988 Act, to carry out such work as might be necessary to protect those interests, without the consent of Natural England.

 

 

[Vaughan]

7 minutes ago, Paladin said:

When two statutes conflict, the general principle is that the latter prevails over the former. Therefore, in my opinion, if the interests of the navigation on Hickling Broad were threatened by the overgrowth of weed, the Broads Authority would be empowered, under the 1988 Act, to carry out such work as might be necessary to protect those interests, without the consent of Natural England.

Thank Goodness for that!

[TheQ]

21 minutes ago, Paladin said:

Sites of Special Scientific Interest are designated, and protected, under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Carrying out carry out a controlled activity on an SSSI without Natural England’s permission is an offence under that Act.

However, under the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads Act 1988, the Broads Authority has a statutory duty ”...to manage the Broads for the purposes of...protecting the interests of navigation.”

When two statutes conflict, the general principle is that the latter prevails over the former. Therefore, in my opinion, if the interests of the navigation on Hickling Broad were threatened by the overgrowth of weed, the Broads Authority would be empowered, under the 1988 Act, to carry out such work as might be necessary to protect those interests, without the consent of Natural England.

 

 

 

 

Which is why we don't want it to be a national park because then conservation trumps everything

[Vaughan]

14 minutes ago, TheQ said:

Which is why we don't want it to be a national park because then conservation trumps everything

  

[Poppy]

28 minutes ago, TheQ said:

Which is why we don't want it to be a national park because then conservation trumps everything

And if anybody disbelieves that .......

http://www.nationalparks.gov.uk/students/whatisanationalpark/aimsandpurposesofnationalparks/sandfordprinciple

[JennyMorgan]

49 minutes ago, Paladin said:

Sites of Special Scientific Interest are designated, and protected, under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Carrying out carry out a controlled activity on an SSSI without Natural England’s permission is an offence under that Act.

However, under the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads Act 1988, the Broads Authority has a statutory duty ”...to manage the Broads for the purposes of...protecting the interests of navigation.”

When two statutes conflict, the general principle is that the latter prevails over the former. Therefore, in my opinion, if the interests of the navigation on Hickling Broad were threatened by the overgrowth of weed, the Broads Authority would be empowered, under the 1988 Act, to carry out such work as might be necessary to protect those interests, without the consent of Natural England.

That is also my understanding of the situation. Unfortunately, and specifically above Potter Ham Bridge, the Authority gleefully grasps at every and any possible opportunity to avoid its duty of 'protecting the interests of navigation'.  In my opinion the Authority has once again firmly nailed its colours to its mast over this issue.

[MauriceMynah]

That's unfair Peter, The BA have been dredging the channel albeit in a somewhat piecemeal fashion for quite a while now. I do wonder if they are obliged to dredge outside the channel which by it's very nature is not the navigation.

[Minifer]

I can remember visiting Hickling to dinghy sail in the 1980's and being really shocked by the amount of weed (I normally sailed on Barton Broad) everywhere and in the channel - it was far worse than it has been this year, although it has been bad this season, I assumed due to the weather we have had this year.  The channel is clear though, maybe the odd margin area has it, but it is pretty much clear for navigation.

We did mudweight out of the channel for a while last weekend and the entire Hunter fleet was sailing all around, it was weedy but not choked.