Agenda item

20/02501/FULES

Proposed river restoration scheme comprising - removal of existing ford crossing and replace with new gravel ford; regrading of 400m of canalised section of river; remove fish pass; creation of inset floodplain; construction of new replacement pedestrian footbridge; removal of upstream check weirs – minor widening of approach to Coldgate Mill Ford crossing.

Land North West of Haugh Head Crossing Cottage, Wooler. Northumberland. 

 

 

Minutes:

Proposed river restoration scheme comprising – removal of existing ford crossing and replace with new gravel ford; regrading of 400m of canalized section of river; remove fish pass; creation of inset floodplain; construction of new replacement pedestrian footbridge; removal of upstream check weirs – minor widening of approach to Coldgate Mill Ford crossing.

 

Senior Planning Officer James Bellis introduced the application with the aid 

of a slide presentation.  He updated the committee by reading out a late representation received by email received from Wooler Parish Council:

 

Dear Sir Re: Proposed restoration scheme – removal of existing ford crossing and replace with new gravel ford; regarding 400m of canalised section of river; remove fish pass; creation of inset floodplain; construction of new replacement pedestrian footbridge; removal of upstream check weirs – minor widening of approach to Coldgate Mill Ford Crossing

Land North West of Haugh Head Crossing Cottage, Wooler

 

On behalf of both the Wooler Parish Council and also our County Councillor - Mark Mather, we write to express our concerns on what appears to be two outstanding matters.

 

Whilst we acknowledge that the majority of issues identified have been addressed, the question of future maintenance is still unclear. It would appear that the Environment Agency is not to maintain this Ford in future and therefore we have grave concerns as to what problems this may cause further down the river with potentially raised river levels.

 

Also, no monitoring of private wells is to be undertaken, despite this being highlighted as a potential issue. As a considerable portion of land/properties operate on private wells in and around the area of this crossing, it would seem irresponsible to not monitor the effect of this work on the water supply available to these properties.

 

Many thanks for listening to our concerns.

 

Mr Bellis recommended that the application be approved subject to the conditions in the report.

 

Members then asked questions of the officer, the key responses were:

 

  • Environmental Health would monitor the scheme initially 
  • There were approximately 8 private wells 
  • Mr Bellis was of the understanding that the bridge would not affect the flow but he had not seen a detailed design of the bridge 
  • The Environment Agency had been working with the landowners and the flood plain inset had been agreed with them 

 

Councillor Thorne then moved approval for the scheme and stated that this would improve the River Till downstream from Wooler and was a step forward environmentally, however, he did have concerns about removing the natural blockage and how the scheme would be maintained in the future.  This was seconded by Councillor Watson who also shared concerns but was sure the Environmental Agency would be able to manage the scheme.

 

In response to a query, it was clarified that Councillor Mather had taken advice from the solicitor before the meeting and had therefore declared an interest in the application. 

 

The motion was then put to the vote and was unanimously agreed.

 

RESOLVED that the application be GRANTED subject to the conditions in the report.

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