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Boston Belle operator calls for public meeting with Environment Agency to discuss pump house and locks




A boat operator is calling for a public meeting with the Environment Agency to allow people to share issues with changes to the river system.

Rodney Bowles has been running river and sea trips on the Boston Belle for more than 20 years but feels his business is being affected due to the changes in how the drainage and rivers are being operated.

Calls have been made for the decommissioned Black Sluice Pumping Station in Boston to be reopened after flooding had been seen further along the South Forty Foot Drain in the Dunsby Fen, Billingborough and Pointon areas.

Owner and skipper of the Boston Belle, Rodney Bowles
Owner and skipper of the Boston Belle, Rodney Bowles

Mr Bowles also feels that pumps at the station, which sits between the South Forty Foot Drain and The Haven, should be brought back online along with a lock added into the Boston Tidal Barrier to help improve the flow of water.

He feels the current operation of the system does not fit in with how it was designed hundreds of years ago and that everyone affected should have a chance to discuss the issues with the Environment Agency.

Mr Bowles said: “The EA is not fit for purpose.

The Boston Belle
The Boston Belle

“We have got to have a public meeting and then sort these things out as they are wasting money in the wrong places.

“They are going to waste money on sluices when they want to get the barrier sorted with locks.”



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