Relief for lock keepers as EA shelves sale plans

9:26am Thursday 4th December 2008

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A plan to sell off the homes of lock keepers has been shelved after a vocal campaign against the move.

The Environment Agency was taken aback by the strength of support after details of a scheme to sell off or lease ten out of 22 lock keepers’ properties in the region was revealed.

Lock keepers were jubilant after the EA announced that resident lock keepers would remain in place at each of its 45 lock sites on the Thames.

But the Agency said it would now sell just five homes, none of them on the river, including a house in Laburnam Road, Botley, which is currently occupied by a relief lock keeper.

One Oxfordshire lock keeper, who asked not to be named, said: “A lot of lock keepers have been living under a cloud, fearing that they would lose their homes.

“This news represents a huge climbdown by the EA. We would like to thank all those who offered us their support when people learnt what was happening.”

The lock houses in Oxfordshire on the hit-list were Godstow, Culham, Wallingford, Sandford-on-Thames, Little Wittenham, Buscot, Shifford and St Johns, near Lechlade, and Garth House at Rushey, near Faringdon.

Hugh Davidson, the EA’s regional director, said: “We have listened carefully to staff, MPs, river users and those who live in the flood plain, who all raised objections to our original proposals announced earlier this year.