I do despair sometimes when hearing about the Environment Agency’s plans. The current proposal not to replace resident lock keepers along the non-tidal Thames and to rent out their vacant homes – including those at Chertsey and Sunbury Locks – is a case in point.
I was absolutely delighted to receive an email from Alan and Jean Barrett of Walton following on from my piece about the restoration of the old paddle steamer, the Medway Queen, in last week’s Herald and News.
I was rather encouraged to see that a London MP had put down an Early Day Motion to bring the vexed question of the future of resident lock keepers on the non-tidal Thames into the public spotlight.
