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Proposed Powick weir removal

Lawrence Breakspear

Lawrence Breakspear

Senior Member
Please can you try and come to the Angling Trust Forum on the 28th April at Worcester Racecourse at 6.45pm to support us in our opposition against the lower river Temes Powick weir destruction and removal, this is being proposed by the EA and supported by the Severn Rivers Trust for all sorts of obscure reasons , we consider it will be disastrous for the river above the weir, we are hoping for a good turnout by local and concerned anglers, please pre register on the link below:

http://midsforumsevernapril16.eventzilla.net/web/event?eventid=2138836891
 
Totally agree with you Lawrence. I will be there. I wonder if the good citizens of worcester, Upton and Tewkesbury think it a good idea to empty any extra water in the Teme into the lower Severn even faster. The weir is helping to hold back floodwater in the Temes own floodplain. I would have thought that, removal is contrary to latest flood management thinking.

Paul
 
Paul Curtis said:
Totally agree with you Lawrence. I will be there. I wonder if the good citizens of worcester, Upton and Tewkesbury think it a good idea to empty any extra water in the Teme into the lower Severn even faster. The weir is helping to hold back floodwater in the Temes own floodplain. I would have thought that, removal is contrary to latest flood management thinking.

Paul
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Considering somebody spits in Telford it floods here in Tewkesbury, I don't think this proposal will make a lot of difference. But it does seem it's already been decided to remove, and the main subject to discuss is a fish pass!! But I hope to be there at the meeting.
 
This proposed weir removal at Powick will be catastrophic for the river Teme as far up as Bransford bridge, with 1.5mtrs water lost coupled with a considerable increase in water flow, it will change the river forever, but then again this is what the EA and the Severn Rivers Trust want, they want to create a river above Powick to be a river of pools, shallows and riffles, you can only acheive that by significant water loss. Wards 84 Angling Club have already experienced the damage a weirs removal can do, the EA removed a weir at Bransford in the early 90's, this immediately caused a drop of water depth by .5 Mtrs on the fisheries above the weir, this then manifested into further damage as times went by the increased water flow resulted in fishing during the winter months becoming virtually impossible, so much so that Wards had to let go of a prime meadow at the top of the fishery, they also experienced bank erosion, trees falling in to the water due to root damage, it almost destroyed the stretch as a coarse fishery and the weir was nothing like Powick's, its being sold to the public as some sort of environmental leap forward for the river, dont be hood winked, this is about getting millions of pounds from the EU, lottery funding and natrual England under the ruse of creating another Twaite Shad spawning site above the weir, failing to recogise that the Shad happily spawns below Powick Weir, as it has done for centuries, by the way this has be proven by Bournemouth University, Shad also reqiure some pretty strict spawning conditions to be successful, if they want Shad to spawn above and beyond Powick weir I suggest they replace the monstrosity of the existing concrete fish pass for a more "Shad friendly" Rock ramp fish pass that other river authoritys have successfully installed. As for other species, Barbel and Salmon etc. have successfully ascended the Teme over the years very, very happily by just waiting until the weir is breached, they then just swim over it. All the supporting evidence of what I have written here is on the Save Powick Weir Facebook page for you to read.
 
Hi again Lawrence. As you know, I am completely in agreement with you on this one, and deeply sorry that I won't be able to be there to watch your progress on this. I hope you win your fight Lawrence, it is certainly one worth going for and you surely have put the effort in, top man. Power to your elbow mate.

Cheers, Dave.
 
Cheers Dave, thanks for your support and kind words, we will do our best on your behalf mate so no worries, we are expecting a good turnout and our thanks go to the Angling Trust for supplying the venue, whilst there is a very black and white situation here, there is a level of subterfuge going on with the EA and Severn Rivers Trust regarding this whole debacle, but I and others will take this as far as it needs to go, we have some great support and alliances have been made with various other organisations separate to angling (Historical Society's etc.) , so I hope we can reverse the decision to remove the weir, we just want to make a difference here.
 
Fantastic that you're passionate about saving the weir. But listening to Mr Breakspeare in a radio interview he quoted that he didn't care about the Shad. I'm sure that this is just the passion getting the best of him but anyone who has a counter argument will simply see this as selfishness. All the species in the river should be considered, not just barbel.
I know this next bit will provoke unapproved interest from anglers but there are, and have been for a whilst otters living by the old mill at Powick. This would bring out many more people to protest.

I'm sorry but to be just concerned about a single species myopia, it makes him sound like a Twaite. ;-)
 
Well...I heard his interview this afternoon and he said nothing of the sort..... In fact the opposite. As for the rest of your post Jeff..... I'll just leave it for others to think about.
 
Rich Frampton said:
Well...I heard his interview this afternoon and he said nothing of the sort..... In fact the opposite. As for the rest of your post Jeff..... I'll just leave it for others to think about.
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It wasn't the interview this afternoon Rich. It was from a few days before. And in total contradiction to what he said beforehand. Do your research.
 
Jeff Collins said:
It wasn't the interview this afternoon Rich. It was from a few days before. And in total contradiction to what he said beforehand. Do your research.
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If he said anything of the sort it was probably a slip of the tongue, can't imagine anyone, certainly not Lol, 'not caring' about any species, especially the Shad.
It is pretty obvious that diversity in any river is the hallmark of a healthy river, I don't really see what your moaning about.
 
Beings this is such an important issue could we just quit the name calling. It just detracts from any credible argument.
 
you are right I did say I wasnt too much concerned with the Twaite Shad, in fact I still am unconcerned, but not in a bad way, I am concerned about all fish species, and anyone that knows me will confirm that, my lack of concern for the Shad is in the context of the removal of Powick weir, the Twaite Shad are a protected species, so they have enough people looking after them, but I am concerned about the Barbel in the Teme, in fact very concerned and the lower Severn environment, I think Richard was thinking your were talking about the late afternoon broadcast, look I make no apologies, I am fighting for the barbels survival on the Teme, especially a few miles above the weir, the EA have admitted that the water loss will be profound, 1.7mtrs directly above the weir and .500 mtrs ant Bransford bridge, they also confirmed that the river will take 15 years to get back to any form of natural state, 10 years at least of bank erosion, trees being up rooted, the river being gouged out into a "v", it will dry out in the summer, it will be a raging torrent in the winter, Bransford AC, St Johns AS, Worcester AS, The Barbel Society, Kinver Freeliners and Wards 84 AC all agree with me, we are concerned for the welfare of the coarse fish stocks and most importantly the Barbel, this is Barbel Fishing World, I am a Barbel angler, I am only fighting for the Barbel, because be in no doubt the EA and the Severn Rivers Trust see Barbel as collateral damage, the Shad have spawned successfully for hundreds years, between Powick weir and Teme mouth as they still do, as confirmed by Bournemouth University, they dont need me to fight their corner.........Barbel do!
 
Well said Lawrence, a great and concise reply mate, and a masterclass in restraint to boot. Sometimes I am left wondering exactly what would happen if you ever said/did something wrong, considering the flack you get for doing your best for our hobby. Funny old world mate :eek:

Cheers, Dave.
 
Now that's funny.
 
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