OnTheCut

Due to flooding on the River Ure, the Lock at Milby has been underwater for much of last week and is still under water again today (8th April). Predicted levels set to rise by a further 1.2m tomorrow and Wednesday 10th April. Although the works have been progressing well with both upstream and downstream gates now fitted, unfortunately, this most recent flooding has been a setback as we cannot access the lock bottom to fit both pairs of cills. The Lock at Milby is in a canalised section that by-passes Boroughbridge weir on the River Ure so it is particularly prone to flooding from both above and below. In order to allow the levels to reside enough for works to continue in the lock bottom and to repair the two upstream ground paddle frames and doors, unfortunately a decision has been made to extend the closure by a further 2 week. Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

The Lock at Milby is in a canalised section that by-passes Boroughbridge weir on the River Ure so it is particularly prone to flooding from both above and below. On the morning of the 14th March the Lock was completely underwater as the River Ure had risen more than 3m overnight. With further rain predicted, the decision has been made to extend the closure by a further 2 weeks. The situation will be monitored closely over the next couple of weeks to evaluate if a further delay is required. The canal will now be closed until 12 April 2024.

The works at this location are still being delayed due to the continued impact of the bad weather on our wider winter works programme. This means we will need to delay the start date of these works. We are hopeful to start work on site on the 19 February 2024 with a completion date of the 28 March 2024.

We have been working closely with the relevant authorities to get an essential flood risk activity permit for this project in time for this work to proceed – but we have recently heard that it will not be issued in time for us to start on site as planned. The Trust remain keen to complete these works this winter, so we have moved some work around and re-planned this work to after Christmas.

The new closure dates will be the 5th February 2024 through to the 15th March 2024.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused by the change in dates and we will be working hard to secure the necessary permit ahead of these revised dates.