Fish & Eel Pass Progress Update, October 23 All the excavation works have been completed under a watching brief with a professional archaeologist. The excavation zone adjacent to the weir would in all likelihood have been dug over during the creation of the structure in the mid-20th Century, so as expected, no artifacts of historical interest were discovered. The recent wet weather has provided challenging conditions for the portadam in the pond below the weir, so this week the team have focussed on installing sheet piling at the top end of the fish pass at the upper river where the ground is dry. Next week the lower portadam will be drained again with the aid of a larger pump (powered by a quiet electrical generator) which should enable the lower end piling to commence.

Good afternoon, Hope you’re all having a good week! We’ve updated our traffic information page with upcoming footpath work for the week starting 16/10/2023. Disruption should be minor as we continue installing boundary boxes as part of stage two.

Hi everyone! Just a quick update to say we'll be carrying out more boundary box installations this week starting 09/10/2023. There will be minor disruption to footpaths. You can check our traffic information section for further information as to where we'll be carrying out the work.

Hi everyone! We’re now getting on with stage two of the Smart Suffolk project. This involves us installing boundary boxes, for those who don’t already have them. These are the protective homes for the smart meters, on the pavement outside. You can recognise them by their square or circular black plastic lid. We’re really excited to be moving forward and this brings us even closer to installing our smart meters. You may have seen some of our smart campaign whilst out and about, possibly spotting some of our signs at worksites. We’d love it if you kept an eye out and told us when you spot them. We also have some radio adverts that you might have heard. We’ve linked these in the ‘Smart Campaign’ tab, so check them out!

Have you spotted our smart campaign yet? You may have seen them while browsing the web, on social media, or when you're out and about. They feature our beautiful environment that we all care so much about. With our very own Lound Lakes and Water Voles. We also have the radio ads which you can listen to at the bottom. Smart meters are here to help keep water flowing for everyone in your community and we hope these help spread the message. So, join us in sharing how smart water meters help save water, our precious resource.  Radio ads 📻 Click here to listen to radio ad one  Click here to listen to radio ad two   

Fish & Eel Pass Progress Update, September 23 The fish pass team have been on site for about a month now and have achieved great progress. The site is all setup, the trackway for access has been installed, tree stumps removed and protective fencing has been placed around the trees that are remaining to make sure vehicles can’t encroach into their root protection zones. This week we have started to install a ‘portadam’ in the upper river and the lower pond which will provide a dry working area, enabling the team to start excavating to create the trench where the fish pass will be inserted. We’ll have an archaeologist on site next week observing the excavation works to see if there are any interesting historical artifacts uncovered. The attached photos show the trackway, tree protection fence and the installation process for the portadam.

Our Layer to Langford Pipeline Project team is using a non-intrusive method to cross two major Rivers in Essex, the River Blackwater and the Langford Cut. The method, known as directional drilling, drills a tunnel beneath the rivers through which over 200m of pipeline will be pulled. The alternative to this would involve sheet piling the rivers to stop the flow, overpumping the water and then open cutting the rivers, potentially causing ecological and environmental disturbance. Work started last week, beginning with the drilling of a pilot tunnel 6m beneath the river beds. This will be followed by work to widen the tunnel ready to accept the large diameter pipeline. The drilling process itself is expected to take four weeks.    

Hi everyone, just a very quick update today to let you know that the construction works on the Fish Pass will be starting on site from next week, 21st August. Further updates will follow as the work progresses.

Good morning everyone - I hope you're all well and had a great weekend?  The information advised in the last update, which I have removed to avoid confusion explained the road clousre was 12th to 13th September. For clarity - the road closure is 12th to 13th August 2023. Therefore, the updated message is..... To progress with the planned work,  we need to close Church Road in front of our Treatment Works, opposite the tennis court, for a short while to install a new drain pipe.  The road closure is planned for Saturday 12th - Sunday 13th August and a diversion route via Layer Breton will be in place.  We will do all we can to minimise the inconvenience to residents and visitors to Layer, and would like to thank you in advance for your patience while we complete this essential work. Please let us know if there is anything we can help you with.  Best wishes - David 

Today marked a significant milestone on this project with the start of our archaeological field work. Having previously completed desk based assessment and aerial surveys we have now moved into the phase of trial trenching. This involves the excavation of strip trenches across the pipeline route that will allow archaeologist to search for historic artefacts. During this phase we will be liaising closely with Essex County Council and Colchester City Council to report our findings and allow them the opportunity to complete their own assessment within the trenches. If any artefacts are located these are recorded and the trench is backfilled. Where significant artefacts are found more detailed investigation will be completed prior to the process of pipelaying, these may even alter the route of the pipeline. This phase of the work is scheduled to last approx. 8 weeks.

We're about ready to start! You'll soon get a letter or e mail from us to let you know about our exciting project in your area and you may see some of our friendly staff out and about checking on what work we need to do.   It will include ways for you to keep updated and information about the stages we will be going through. Keep an eye out for updates through your letter box or follow us for real time changes.

Works on the Fish Pass and Eel Screens on the River Blackwater are progressing, the main contractor for the Fish Pass installation has been appointed and they are planning to undertake some pre-start surveys during the next 3-4 weeks, with the aim of mobilising to begin construction in August.  More updates will follow as dates are firmed up. Detailed designs for the new eel screens for the Blackwater Intake are almost complete which will enable the planning application for the works to be submitted, hopefully also in August. You may have noticed a bit more activity in the area recently as we've been carrying out several surveys for ecology, arboriculture and constructability, as well as making plans for a new access track and power supply. If planning permission is achieved the main construction works for this project will begin in 2024.