John Packman's Broads Briefing (december)

[ranworthbreeze]

Happy Christmas and best wishes to you all for 2020

I would like to thank our Members, staff and volunteers for the fantastic work they have delivered this year. This is my last day in the office before Christmas and I am leaving with a real spring in my step because of the progress we are making on a number of fronts. Last week I went to see the Woven Waters exhibition at the Hostry at Norwich Cathedral. I was really impressed and suggest you try and get to it over the Christmas break.

The availability of moorings and electric charging points for boats is an ongoing concern and I have been really pleased with the progress we are making at a number of sites. Please see below for the latest on Stalham Staithe.

Our office is closed for the Christmas week from Friday evening. We return on 30 December. 

 

 

Please see this month's Broads Briefing below:

 

 

December 2019

 

Woven Waters

Last Thursday evening I attended the preview of the modern art exhibition Woven Waters in the Hostry. This is part of our Water, Mills and Marshes programme of work funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Over 30 artists submitted proposals for artworks which were to “capture the essence of the landscape and its seasonal changes”.

Six were selected from the proposals to form the basis of an exhibition at the Hostry. The aim of the exhibition is to inspire the public to explore the landscape for themselves and engage in greater depth with this outstanding area of beauty, and the cultural and ecological diversity it holds. I think it absolutely does that and can recommend it to you.

The artists were required to demonstrate a tangible link to specific places within the Water, Mills and Marshes area and that each artist spent time in their selected location(s) over a period of a year, from late summer 2018. The transfer of responsibility for Breydon Water was a big enterprise for the Authority – so do have a look at the mud print by Niki Medlik and listen to the soundscape inspired by Breydon Bridge. I particularly love the two landscapes of the River Waveney at Geldeston by Kate Walker.

Many thanks to all of the artists and Anna (Collingbourne) who project managed it for us and to Caroline Fisher who curated the exhibition. It runs until 19 January.

 

'Dog days' by Kate Walker, one of the works on show during the exhibition

 

Stalham Staithe

I am absolutely delighted with the progress we have made to upgrade the Staithe at Stalham working in partnership with Stalham Town Council and Norfolk County Council. This has been a long running problem and the source of numerous emails, but like many issues connected to the Broads it has taken time to resolve.

The expensive repairs needed at the Staithe has meant that a phased approached was required with phase one being the re-piling of a damaged and eroded section. Phase two is currently underway with Norfolk County Council creating a footway, installing drainage and creating a shorter section of grass verge. Works are progressing well and as you can see from the photograph, the improvements to this area are significant.

Many thanks to the Town Council and Norfolk County Council – it has been a real pleasure to work with them both on the project. We are looking forward to the end of December when the works are scheduled to have finished.

 

Refurbishments underway at Stalham Staithe

 

Well-earned retirements

We have welcomed a number of new faces to the Authority during 2019 although this means we are saying farewell to a number of employees who will be retiring at the end of this year.

Edgar Hoddy retired in the autumn following 17 years of service as a Broads Ranger and volunteer. Edgar was known for his commitment and enthusiasm for the Broads, and at this time of year in particular we will be remembering his talent for playing a very convincing Santa Claus during our Christmas events. We are delighted that he will continue to help us look after the Broads as he has signed up be one of our volunteers.

We are also bidding a fond farewell to Steve Birtles, our Head of Safety Management, as he leaves us in December to enjoy a well-earned retirement. In his 13 years at the Authority Steve has been firmly committed to improving our approach to safety management both on and off the water. In particular he has forged a number of important partnerships with the RNLI, BSS and more to raise awareness of water safety in the Broads.

Finally, we are also saying a (partial) goodbye to Tony Risebrow, one of our Compliance and Implementation Planning Officers, as he retires from his post. Tony spent 24 years as a River Inspector/Ranger, originally working for the Great Yarmouth Port and Haven Commissioners before the Broads Authority was formed. He then moved into his role within the planning team in 2011. We are pleased that Tony will continue to work part time in his role as Hire Boat Licensing Officer as of January next year.

I would like to thank all of our retiring members of staff for their dedication and hard work, and wish them the very best for the future.

 

Climate change

I promised you a regular update on the Authority’s response to the challenge posed by climate change and following the Authority’s commitment to reducing its CO2 emissions we are making some real progress.

This week electric charging points for vehicles have been installed at our Dockyard in anticipation of changes to our fleet of vans and cars. I have also had a very thought-provoking meeting at the Hethel Innovation Centre regarding electric charging points for boats which I hope will lead to the development of an innovative project in the new year. Keep an eye out for more details.

 

Electric van and new charging point

 

Dredging works

Aside from Hickling, other dredging this winter includes work at Tyler’s Cut, which at the time of writing has been completed. Remaining work over winter 2019/20 includes returning to South Walsham earlier than originally planned, to carry on with dredging from the Fleet Dyke into priority areas within the outer broad. A return was planned in March 2020, but this can now be brought forward by at least two months. Prioritisation of this work is two-fold, in that the dredging is required to meet Waterways Specifications and the setback area where the sediment is being placed is required by BESL/EA for future floodbank work near the mouth of the River Ant.

 

Tree management

Tree management work at many locations along the River Ant have now been completed this winter. Staff and volunteers are now working on planned tree management at prioritised locations on the Bure as well as some additional prioritised locations on the River Ant. The tree shears are to be used on a number of stretches of the River Yare between Bramerton and Brundall this winter, removing overhanging growth and tree removal. On the River Waveney, contractors are also lined up for two stretches upstream of Beccles.

 

Tree clearing at Hoveton

 

Moorings

A tender process has been opened to re-pile a 110-metre length of Acle Bridge 24-hour moorings. This work is scheduled to start early next year with completion due in the spring.

Refurbishment of the capping and waling at Neatishead turning basin and Paddy’s Lane 24-hour mooring will be carried out this winter by contractors. At South Walsham slipway and Irstead Staithe 24-hour mooring, minor repairs to furniture and fittings have been completed.

Furthermore, following tree inspections by staff, the appointment of tree surgery contractors has been arranged for hazard removal at Paddy’s Lane, Horning Marshes and Wayford Bridge moorings, so please be aware if you are in the area.

 

Vessel refits

Programmed vessel refits this winter include the workboat Didler, the Authority’s mud pump, two ranger launches and the two weed harvesters. In addition, the Plant and Equipment team have been fitting several new engines to vessels. These include a hydraulic engine for the welfare vessel and new diesel engines for the ranger launches Spirit of Breydon and ML Yare.

 

Breakdown of practical works

I thought you might be interested in the allocation of the Construction and Maintenance Teams’ time on navigation tasks between five main categories. In ranked order of total person days allocated for 2019/20, the categories are dredging, 24-hour mooring maintenance, riverside tree management, reactive repairs & maintenance, and water plant management.

The chart below shows the proportions of these allocations. The time spent on navigation tasks is 70% of the total available time for the Construction and Maintenance teams. The other 30% is divided between 20% for conservation tasks (fen management, lake restoration, invasive species control, etc.) and 10 % for recreational management tasks (public rights of way cutting, visitor site and TIC maintenance, etc.). ‘Other’ in the chart includes maintenance of signs and boards, wreck and obstruction removal, maintenance of ranger billets and replacement of channel markers.

 

Percentage of Construction and Maintenance staff time allocated to navigation tasks in 2019/20

 

Apprenticeship progress

Eloise, Emily and Becky our three level 2 apprentices have completed all of their planned training as part of their Practical Environmental and Conservation Apprenticeship ran in partnership with Easton & Otley College. All three are now working day-to-day with Operations Technicians on all tasks across the work programme, giving them a wide range of skills and experience.

 

 

As always please remember you can contact me directly if you have any questions, I'll try my best to get back to you after the Christmas break. If you know of anyone else who would like to receive my briefings please pass on this link. 

Best wishes, 

John Packman
Chief Executive
 

 

[grendel]

https://us16.campaign-archive.com/?u=b957c2a429d58a35f9137b9c7&id=3cb9e28e29

 

[D46]

Under vessel refits it's interesting to note the number of replacement engine's , now the subject of SOB has been done to death , but the launch yare is a lot less than 10 yrs old and has hardly had a difficult life or done a huge amount of hrs either.

As far as I can remember the engine is a beta but it's certainly kabota engine of around 35 hp , the boat being built at brooms also included the ability to use electric drive which the rangers freely admitted didn't really work out well .

The point is this engine should be relatively low hrs and in good health given its age , there are many hire craft with similar engine's that have done surely lots more hrs and not up for replacement .

The vessel itself is in fine condition it's just a shame it's engine isn't ! 

[Vaughan]

6 hours ago, D46 said:

The point is this engine should be relatively low hrs and in good health given its age , there are many hire craft with similar engine's that have done surely lots more hrs and not up for replacement .

This may depend on whether the BA have a policy of changing engines after a certain number of hours. What's called preventive maintenance.

I wanted to change our Nanni engines after 9000 hours, as they cannot be economically re-built and exchange units are not expensive. Our new owners didn't want to spend the money, preferring to mend it after it had broken, so when I left we already had engines on 13,000 hours and still going strong! You have to look after them though - regular oil and filter changes.

A ranger's launch must be doing long hours as they are on patrol every day but chugging about all the time at 4 or 5 MPH (or less) cannot be good for a diesel engine. In the 70s, the new GRP launches were fitted with gas tanks and were running on propane gas, much like a factory fork lift truck. Very "clean" on emissions. I wonder what happened to that experiment?

By the way, 13,000 hours at an average 40MPH would be more than 500,000 miles driven in a car. And a hire car, at that!

[grendel]

when you consider that a rangers launch is used daily, if it is in use 5 hours a day for just 200 days of the year (weekdays) then it will be doing 1000 hours a year, this would bring it close to the magical 9000 hours vaughan quotes in just 9 years, so preventative maintenance could well be the reason.

[Vaughan]

I reckon the average hire boat - at least on canal holidays - does 750 hours every season.

[batrabill]

Mods - can we delete this thread! There seems to be a lot of "good news" in it.

Thankfully some have spotted what's wrong with it and pointed it out.

I hope that after the season of goodwill the Forum will return to its god-given function of pointing out how every little thing the Authority does is wrong.

 

[D46]

33 minutes ago, batrabill said:

Mods - can we delete this thread! There seems to be a lot of "good news" in it.

Thankfully some have spotted what's wrong with it and pointed it out.

I hope that after the season of goodwill the Forum will return to its god-given function of pointing out how every little thing the Authority does is wrong.

 

Oh dear please accept my apologies for asking a question .

Yes the reason may well be for preventive maintainace but I still think this launch hasn't done that many hrs , for one it's definitely not out every day nor has it been for a number of yrs and I'm fairly sure it was commissioned in around 2012 possibly a little later making it 6-7 yrs old .

Yes there is some good news in the briefing but some of it poses questions one of which I've asked ,  I would have expected the season of good will to extend to forum members , maybe that manifests it's self in sarcasm these days .

[batrabill]

Just your bad luck you were first out of the traps. 

I don’t make the rules. 

[BroadsAuthority]

54 minutes ago, D46 said:

Oh dear please accept my apologies for asking a question .

Yes the reason may well be for preventive maintainace but I still think this launch hasn't done that many hrs , for one it's definitely not out every day nor has it been for a number of yrs and I'm fairly sure it was commissioned in around 2012 possibly a little later making it 6-7 yrs old .

Yes there is some good news in the briefing but some of it poses questions one of which I've asked ,  I would have expected the season of good will to extend to forum members , maybe that manifests it's self in sarcasm these days .

Hi D46,

All I can say is that the relevant and trained staff members responsible for annual checks deemed it necessary and cost effective that ML Yare have a refit rather than any repairs. I can't really provide much more information than that.

Happy Christmas!

Tom

[D46]

55 minutes ago, BroadsAuthority said:

Hi D46,

All I can say is that the relevant and trained staff members responsible for annual checks deemed it necessary and cost effective that ML Yare have a refit rather than any repairs. I can't really provide much more information than that.

Happy Christmas!

Tom

Thanks for that Tom .

On looking at the launch replacement program it transpires the the vessel came on line in 2013 hence 6 yrs old , now I can't see why it would need a replacement engine in that length of time given it does exactly what other boats do speed wise etc and it being a kabota a very much considered robust power plant .

There must be countless folk who use their boats often now somewhat worryed regarding needing an engine swap .

I fully understand though Vaughan's comment about rebuild costs of kabotas as genuine  spares are extremely expensive against other makes .

[grendel]

D46, I would imagine that it is a mix of age and reliability, as a working boat the last thing that they would want would be for it not to start when needed or be constantly in for repair, balancing the costs of repairs and lost time could then it could well transpire that replacement was the cheaper option.

[marshman]

Without seeing the boat, or looking at it or the mechanicals, I don't find myself in a position to make any pronouncement one way or another!  You can make comments such as "you don't think it necessary" or what ever else but my guess is that their fitters/engineers are every bit as qualified and experienced as most, and if they are recommending it, then you will have to just take their word for it!

I have to say having worked with them in the past with their outboards they are not exactly prone to recommending new engines unless absolutely necessary - indeed if anything they are apt to being the other way, often using them beyond their expected life!!

Like it or not, they do these days use a lot more volunteers than in the past, and there is no question that volunteers work assets far harder than you would your own! Its a bit like hire boats really - hire boats have a far harder time of it than private boats even if you take out of the equation, the amount of time they are being used. Ask those in charge of the syndicate boats - maintenance is an ongoing issue I suspect

[D46]

Ok I'll now be holding my hands up as to bring a little incorrect , the river launch ML yare is not the 6 yr old vessel patrolling the River yare , ML yare is at thurn apparently .

A chance meeting with one of the yare rangers 10 mins ago cleared all of this up .

My apologies to the forum and indeed to BA for my mistake .

[Vaughan]

15 minutes ago, D46 said:

My apologies to the forum and indeed to BA for my mistake .

I see no need to apologise. We are discussing the basic principles of the maintenance and they remain the same.

And by the way Batrabill I am not knocking the BA. I like to think I only do that when they give me obvious reason and this is certainly not one of those times.

[BroadsAuthority]

29 minutes ago, D46 said:

Ok I'll now be holding my hands up as to bring a little incorrect , the river launch ML yare is not the 6 yr old vessel patrolling the River yare , ML yare is at thurn apparently .

A chance meeting with one of the yare rangers 10 mins ago cleared all of this up .

My apologies to the forum and indeed to BA for my mistake .

Hi D46,

I was just coming on here to post that but you've beaten me to it!

From my memory ML Yare is one of the oldest launches in current service.

Tom

[AEJB]

Just to add, ML Yare is the last wooden top launch in the BA fleet and is over 40 years old, still looks great just out of refit