RW / Richard Whitehouse / Chair of DLG
PS / Pat Fitzsimons / Director TEP
SO / Sam Orchard / Environment Agency
SB / Steve Bewers / Environment Agency
TF / Tanya Ferry / Port of London Authority
SM / Steve Massey / Land & Water Services
SG / Steve Gilbert / RSPB
PL / Paul Leonard / Consultant
MD / Mark Davison / Environment Agency
NH / Naomi Hyland / Port of London Authority
ND / Neil Dunlop / Environment Agency
BG / Bill Gush / Land & Water Services
AM / Alex Mortley / Port of London Authority
PM / Peter Mortimer / GPS Marine
MW / Mark Wrigley / The Crown Estate
CD / Charles Dawes / Dawes Group
BC / Ben Challier / Niras Fraenkel
GH / Geoff Holland / Port of Tilbury London
FW / Frank Weston / Boskalis Westminster
XZ / Xuan Zhang / UCL CEGE
LB / Laura Batchelor / Port of London Authority
In attendance / Sue Harrington / Meeting notes TEP
Apologies / Julie Morris / Environment Agency
Richard Charman / Environment Agency
Katherine Harris / HR Wallingford
Brian Hawkins / Marine Management Organisation
Alan Gerrett / Dredging International UK
J-B de Cuyper / Dredging International UK
Mark Lee / HR Wallingford
Richard Charman / Environment Agency
John Spencer / GPS Marine
Sylvia Warman / Historic England
Christina Relf / Natural England
AGENDA
1 Agree Meeting Notes, Action Points and Matters Arising from the last meeting
The notes from the last meeting were agreed as correct, with the instruction that they should be termed Draft Notes until agreed and Notes thereafter.
2 Presentation: Dredging with trailing suction hopper dredger
Frank Weston, Boskalis Westminster
Questions and comments
MD – overspills – these can increase the costs
AM – tolerances of dredging accuracy – FW – precision to 30-50cm, with any overdepth due to external factors such as the weather conditions
3 Presentation: Case Study – Beckton outfall (final section of the Lee Tunnel Project)
Bill Gush, Land & water Services
Questions and comments
The discussion centred on the wider issues of conditions imposed under WFD, re-use of dredge materials and licencing applications. MD noted that the Environment Agency concerns under WFD were with water quality, assessed from monitoring buoys, not with water sampling. BG commented that when conditions for monitoring are imposed it is unhelpful to the contractor to have the method imposed as well. Agreed mitigation levels could be set and the contractor left to do the work, without the imposition of additional safeguards. FW commented that these were issues of marine construction that were devised by land-based contractors, particularly environmental consultants advising clients. The marine people were brought into the process at too late a stage. TF commented that there was an issue around multiple applications for the same project from different elements – better dissemination of information was required as too much information could be misleading. AM commented that once mitigations were written into applications to cover all contingencies, these are then written into the licences – which the dredge contractors then have to follow.
4 Presentation: Backhoe and WID in the Thames and Medway
Peter Mortimer, GPS Marine
Questions and comments
Small scale dredging activities are undertaken by GPS Marine through the unique range of dredgers in their fleet. The cost of disposal is prohibitive, although some work involves the reinstatement of scoured areas. MD commented that WAD (Water Action Dredging) produced greater amounts in suspension, potentially causing issues for water quality.
5 Feedback from the interim meeting on Cliffe Pools
Pat Fitzsimons, TEP
The volume of material required to complete the Cliffe Pools restructuring is equivalent to that from the Thames Tideway Tunnel, indicating that other venues would be needed for beneficial re-use in the longer term. The PLA does not have sufficient influence to dictate disposal locations or outcomes outside of statutory controls. The cost of mobilising pump-ashore units is prohibitive for stand-alone small projects – a better solution would be to gather the material together beforehand, or schedule a joint operation, for a one-off deposition. This may be easier with the higher volume of capital works, although there are only a few of these annually. The problem and cost of double handling the material may obviate against it. Dedicated disposal sites are needed, ones that can deal with contaminated material in the form of pumpable silts.
6 Dredging Licence Updates
Naomi Hyland, PLA
It was reported that the PLA is seeking delegated authority from the Marine Management Organisation by April 2016 for dredging licences, rather than pursuing the dual licencing format. There is still much work to do to finalise this combined system. Testing would still be done by the designated laboratories – Cefas and the National Laboratory Service.
TF reported that DSIS was still not being used correctly, meanwhile access will be closed. Terms of Use will be issued to the group once confirmed by PLA legal department [ACTION]
Date of next meeting
Tuesday September 15th, 12-2.30pm
Room 113
UCL, 26 Bedford Way
London
WC1H 0AP
Topics for future meetings
Changes to Thames Morphology – Alex Mortley, PLA
Dredging presentation – Van Oord
Delegation of authority update – Tanya Ferry, PLA
Clearing the Waters – Mark Davison, EA – December meeting
ACTIONS
Dredging and Sediment Liaison Group meeting June 16, 2015