Tree Clearance on the River Stour

Aim

Clearing overhanging and broken trees from the navigation channel between Plucks Gutter and the Minster - Sandwich rail bridge.

As a rower at the Spitfire Boat Club located at Plucks Gutter, I push boats backwards down the Stour at the best possible speed, and the broken, fallen and overhanging trees are a significant threat to myself and my clubmates who can only look behind ourselves every 3-5 strokes. But these same trees affect all river users on the stretch. The over hanging trees reduce visibility and the meaningful size of the navigation channel to a single cruiser's width, increasing the chance of accidents, and the fallen and submerged trees in the river make the chance of any accident be seriously damaging to boat and crew much greater.

Any river user, large or small, personal or commercial, on this stretch of the Stour, particularly 200m either side of Grid Reference 51.321488, 1.287194 will benefit from the tree clearance program we propose. This will be done promptly, before the Autumn, by qualified and insured professionals who have done similar work before and can provide references. The benefits will be immediate, and will last for years.

If we as a river using community do not address this issue it will continue to grow as a problem until it makes the rive impassable. The Environment Agency will step in at this point, but only after travel on the river has been made next to impossible for a considerable period of time. The EA is, like all arms of government facing significant funding shortfalls and has many other priorities. Expecting them to solve this issue is a somewhat forlorn hope. I am asking for your help to keep the river open, and safe, to all users.

Thank you.

This project successfully funded on 28th August 2022