Where there’s a weir there’s a way – dedicated to encouraging the use of the UK’s weirs for hydro-electric power generation…
Traditional watermills are being stopped from generating ‘green electricity’ by a 46-fold increase in Environment Agency fees.
The latest 4.6-fold increase introduced on the 1st April 2022 comes on top of an earlier 10-fold increase that will inevitably consign working watermills to history as there is no way that mill owners can meet the cost or negotiate the bureaucracy involved. The new policy will damage fishing by destroying the habitat for young fish and the endangered European eel, so may not even be legal. The Environment Agency claim the typical licence application fee of £7000 is necessary to pay their £100+/hour costs. It is argued by mill owners that watermills, most of which have been in place for hundreds of years are an environmentally benign technology that should be exempt from charges to encourage their restoration.
Millstreams also provide habitat for otters and beavers so the Environment Agency policy of demolishing mill weirs, is both expensive for the taxpayer, and can bring about exactly the opposite environmental outcome that they intended. This is not a new scenario, but one that has been imposed at regular intervals by misapplied Government regulations.
The Environment Agency has introduced ‘blanket charges’ that even they agree will make small domestic projects uneconomic. Highly inflated project costs of over £100,000 have been used so they can argue their fees of between £6110 and £6947, would only add about 10% to the overall cost, but most small projects are carried out by the mill-owners themselves, so the fees would be nearer to 50% of the overall cost. If a mill owner wants to replace a £2000 energy bill with a ‘renewable energy system’ it would only be worth spending around £20,000 (not £100,000) to restore the mill to working order if he has to borrow the money.
The UN Secretary-General reacting to the IPCC report said “It’s ‘now or never’ to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees”.
Jonathon Porritt commented .…..
“This report reveals an extraordinary state of affairs regarding the future of traditional watermills here in England. At a time when we should all be doing
everything we can to promote genuinely sustainable renewable electricity (big and small), the fact that the Environment Agency has become the biggest threat to maintaining and restoring traditional watermills is truly shocking. There simply has to be a change of heart at the highest level in the Environment Agency, before this reckless vandalism causes further damage.”
Adam Hart-Davis commented ……
This report describes a disaster in the making. The Environment Agency apparently wants to destroy traditional watermills, which is outright vandalism. Surely the primary aim of the EA should be to promote all things that improve the environment, yet watermills, which have been part of our countryside for hundreds of years, are not only benign but positively useful in generating clean green energy, not to mention providing safe habitats for otters, beavers, and fish. Why on earth should the EA want to wipe them out? Will they next promote shooting all herons to protect the fish? This monstrous plot by the Environment Agency must be stopped.