Phil Rodgers: Saving the Cam – the status quo is not an option

Our political correspondent, Phil Rodgers, looks at the threat to the Cam posed by lock failures and the resources required to prevent a disaster.

For more than a year now a looming disaster has been threatening Cambridge – the prospect of the sudden failure of two river locks reducing the River Cam to a muddy trickle. Here’s a look at the story so far, and the prospects for resolving the problem.

The alarm was raised early last year, when the locks at Jesus Green and Baits Bite were surveyed after cracks appeared in the lock islands – the parts of the lock that stand in the middle of the river. The survey did not bring good news. Both lock islands were in a fragile state, needing urgent stabilisation work to stop them collapsing, and ultimately an expensive rebuild. However, the Conservators of the River Cam, the body responsible for the locks, has nowhere near the amount of money required.

While the lock islands are probably not going to collapse tomorrow, there is a very real possibility that one or both of them might do so in the fairly near future if nothing is done. Both of them failing would have a catastrophic effect on the river through the city centre and beyond, greatly lowering the water level, and leaving a muddy ditch for much of the year. Punting and rowing would be next to impossible, and it would be very unpleasant for people living on the houseboats. Rupert Brooke’s ‘unforgettable, unforgotten river-smell’ would be rather different, and fans of Xu Zhimo looking for ‘glittering reflections on the shimmering river’ wouldn’t find them anywhere near the colleges.

The Conservators were first established by the River Cam Navigation Act 1702, with powers to collect tolls to maintain the river. There are supposed to be 13 of them – seven appointed by the city council, three by the University of Cambridge, two by the Environment Agency, and one by the county council. However, at the moment five of these positions are vacant. The Conservators themselves are unpaid, but they employ five officers who do the day-to-day work. The stretch of river that they manage runs from the mill pond near Silver Street, past the colleges in the city centre, alongside Jesus Green and Midsummer Common, and about six miles further downstream to Bottisham Lock near Waterbeach.

In the 1700s a lot of the Conservators’ revenue came from tolls on river traffic bringing goods to the city. Nowadays about 80 per cent of their income comes from boat registration fees – just over half of this is from punts, about a quarter from privately-owned vessels such as houseboats, and about an eighth from rowing clubs. However, the fundamental problem that the Conservators now face is that the amount of money needed to fix the locks vastly exceeds the resources that they have available. This crisis is probably the biggest challenge the Conservators have faced in their 323-year history, including the coming of the railway in 1845, which reduced their income from river tolls by three-quarters.

To illustrate just how difficult the financial position is, I’ve put together the chart based on the most recent accounts on the Conservators’ website. In the year to March 2024, their income was just over £1million, and their spending was just under that figure. The Capital Asset Maintenance Fund – the money put aside for maintenance of the locks and other property – was a bit over £0.75m. This might seem a reasonably comfortable situation, until you look at the expected costs for fixing the locks. Just the immediate stabilisation work is around £1.5m for each lock, with a full rebuild “likely to cost at least £5million each, probably more” according to the website. The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority is set to contribute £500,000 for Baits Bite lock (cannily balanced with £300,000 for a new lighting system at Peterborough Cathedral), and while this is very welcome, it only goes part of the way to meeting the immediate requirements.

The good news, for the moment at least, is that the Conservators have managed to put together enough money for the stabilisation at Baits Bite Lock, and this work got under way at the end of August. However, it remains very far from clear where the money is coming from to stabilise the lock at Jesus Green, let alone fund the rebuilding work needed for a long term solution. A document on the Conservators’ website entitled ‘An Organisation in Crisis’ says that as things stand, “the Conservancy cannot undertake any significant work to resolve the threat to Jesus Lock Island without the threat of insolvency”.

What are the options for funding the repairs? The Conservators themselves have relatively limited scope for boosting their income. They can increase the boat registration fees – and indeed are doing so – but this will only bring in a small fraction of the amount needed. Both the Lib Dems and Greens have called for central government to intervene. Indeed Lib Dem leader Ed Davey went punting in Cambridge recently in support of this campaign, though rather uncharacteristically he managed not to fall in.

However, while the Environment Agency has said it is working to support the Conservators, this support has not yet turned into hard cash. Other suggestions have included a tourist tax, and contributions from the colleges along the river. However, as things stand, a tourist tax would need to be agreed by the city’s hotels, which rejected the idea only last year. The colleges might argue that they already spend a lot on maintaining their own infrastructure – for example Queens’ College spent £650,000 a few years ago repairing its collapsed river bank wall. That leaves local government. The city council may not find the prospect of stumping up the cash very appealing – but then again, neither is the prospect of the river through our beautiful city suddenly turning into a muddy ditch.

Apart from the question of money, the other issue that this crisis raises is the long-term future of the Conservators, if indeed there is one. One way of looking at things is that this is a severe but temporary crisis, and if the Conservators can somehow get through it and fully repair the locks, they should be good for another hundred years or so, and things can carry on largely as before. I don’t think this is very plausible – the Conservators’ own reports give the clear impression that they just don’t have the necessary financial strength for the challenges they are likely to face.

Another possibility would be to pass the Conservators’ responsibilities to the Environment Agency, which already looks after many other waterways. This has some appeal, but would make the river’s managers a lot more remote than they are at the moment. Alternatively, whatever Greater Cambridge Council emerges from local government reorganisation could take over responsibility. It seems very likely the new council for Cambridge will cover all of the Conservators’ stretch of the river.

In any case, a clear plan is needed, and soon. This is one situation where the status quo really is not an option.