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River Tees – Improvement Work Starting

By FishingMagic 10/05/2012 15:51:00

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The Environment Agency will be starting work to repair a weir and build a new fish pass on the River Tees in Barnard Castle.

The weir was built in 1963 and since then the erosion from the river has caused the concrete structure to break up in places. Environment Agency officers are due to inspect the weir in order to assess the scale of the damage before repairs can take place. In order to do this safely, the weir needs to be dried out.

The weir on the River Tees is an important gauging station for the Environment Agency. It is used to measuring the depth and flow speed of the river. This information is used to provide early warnings of flooding to homes and businesses in Yarm and Neasham.
While completing the repairs, the EA use the opportunity to improve the fish passage over the weir by installing a new fish pass to help salmon and other smaller fish species move upstream.

Jenny Evans, Project Manager for the Environment Agency, said:

“We are doing this work to ensure that we can continue to provide flood warnings for the people living and working in Yarm and Neasham. We are also taking this opportunity to build a new fish pass to increase the number of salmon and sea trout migrating upstream. We hope this will boost the local economy by providing new fishing areas and increasing tourism.”

Work to repair the weir will be starting in May and will be carried out over the next two years.