SC19053 - Fish & Eel Passage - River Stour

The Great Stour's source is 75m above sea level near the village of Lenham, north-west of Ashford. The Great Stour then flows through Wye and the chalk North Downs to the cathedral city of Canterbury and then flows East and out to sea at Pegwell Bay.

The works are in the River Great Stour from Wye to the A2, GB107040019742 (Water body id). On leaving Wye the Stour flows in a north easterly direction, breaching the North Downs through the 'Wye Gap', and for most of this distance there are few tributaries, although the river interacts significantly with the groundwater and takes on many of the characteristics of a chalk stream.

The river is primarily rural in character for this section, passing through the grounds of some grand country houses. At Olantigh the river bifurcates and passes through 107 hectares of park and pleasure grounds of a mid-19th century private residence.

At Olantigh there are three structures which impact on fish passage, on these two channels. The Waterbody Improvement Plan, 2017, undertaken by the Environment Agency states this section of the Stour as moderate and the reason for not achieving good ecological status as being due to water quality (particularly phosphates), low flow and fish passage.

Fish were in poor status as recently as 2010 but have recovered; further improvements are required if we are to achieve an improvement in overall status. Fish passage has been improved downstream through Canterbury.

The works are everything necessary for the construction and installation of a new Lariner Fish Pass and Eel Pass on the River Great Stour at Olantigh Estate. This includes the provision of temporary works to allow its construction in the river, reinforced and mass concrete, aluminium baffles, safety railings, top soiling and seeding and scour protection.