Yes Minister

The Minister visits Prescott Lock. The Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP, Secretary of State for the Environment, was presented with a commemorative engraved windlass by BW during his tour of the site. Seen in front of a soon to be installed set of lock gates are left to right: Mark Bensted, British Waterways’ London Director; The Minister and British Waterways’ Chairman, Tony Hales.

BW’s Olympic effort!

Hilary Benn MP visits Prescott Lock; the key connection to the Olympic development site. By Keith Langston.

THE Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP, Secretary of State for the Environment, recently visited the East London Prescott Lock construction site to view the first of two, 21-tonne ‘fishbelly’ sluice gates being installed by contractor Volker Stevin as part of the £20-million British Waterways-led project. The work is a major milestone towards the completion of the structure later in the year.

The gates were delivered to the Prescott Lock construction site in late March. They were fabricated in Sheffield by Hadee Engineering Co Ltd and form part of the control structure that will manage the water through the river system and so allow navigation. Due to the size and weight of the gates, a 180 tonne ‘crawler crane’ was used to position them.

Commitment
Hilary Benn said: “The Government has made a commitment that the London 2012 Olympics will be the greenest ever, and it is projects like the Prescott Lock which will make this possible. Environmental responsibility does not begin when we hit 2012; if we are serious about our commitment to sustainable games, then we have to live up to these standards in our design and construction phases also. That is why I am delighted today to see the lock, which will allow the movement of construction materials by the capital’s waterways rather than on roads.”

British Waterways’ chairman, Tony Hales, added: “This exciting project simply would not have happened without the Olympics or the hard work put in by Defra and its agencies – British Waterways, the Environment Agency and Natural England – not to mention the many funders and partners in the project. It was a pleasure to show the Secretary of State around the site today and I look forward to inviting him back later in the year to travel through the lock by boat.”

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