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Vegetation management on the Grand Union and Oxford canals

23rd Jul 2008

A change of contractor to manage waterside vegetation in London and the South East has led to an unacceptable level of towpath vegetation on the Grand Union Canal and Oxford Canal this summer.

Acknowledging the problem and apologising for the inconvenience caused to boaters, walkers, anglers and local residents, Jeff Whyatt, British Waterways’ general manager in the South East has outlined the progress being made and timescales for getting the vegetation back under control.

Jeff comments: “I am very aware of the state of the vegetation on the Oxford and Grand Union Canals and apologise for the inconvenience this has caused. When our new contractor, Fountains, commenced work at the beginning of June they inherited a backlog of work and the situation has been made worse by the wet and warm weather over the past few months which has provided optimum growing conditions.

“My team has been working extremely hard with our contractor to clear the towpaths as quickly as possible and we have seen particular progress at prioritised mooring sites, lock sides and specific well-used sections of towpath.

“Our contractors have employed an additional 14 people on top of their core team of 18 staff to clear the towpaths of vegetation as quickly as possible. Some 220 miles of towpath have now been trimmed back providing access for customers as well as further vegetation works. Over the next two weeks our contractor will be deploying further teams and I am confident that this additional resource will have ‘broken the back’ of the problem by early August.”

Last updated: 22/10/2008