National Trust vetoes hydroelectric plant

PLANS to build a hydroelectric power plant on the River Thames near Henley have been vetoed by the National Trust.

The scheme at Hambleden weir would have generated nearly 400,000 kWh of carbon-free electricity per year and any surplus income would have gone into a fund to support local climate change projects.

But the trust has twice blocked the plans even though it doesn’t own the land and the actual landowner backs the project.

The trust has the power to enforce a covenant imposed by Viscount Hambleden in 1944 to protect 3,900 acres of land on both sides of the river.

This imposes restrictions to protect and preserve the historic architecture, agricultural character and rural integrity of the area.

Tony Hoskins, who has led the proposed scheme, called the trust’s opposition “astonishing”.

He said: “While I understand the National Trust’s legal obligations, I consider it to be living in the past. In 1944, when the covenant was issued, no one knew the phrase climate change. They are acting like the captain of the Titanic.”

Under the scheme, the plant would have been built on land at Remenham Farm, which belongs to the Culden Faw Estate.

The site was chosen as it avoids any encroachment on to property or assets belonging to the Environment Agency.

The scheme would have involved a 300m long, 14m wide channel to the south of the lock with a hydro station halfway along.

Mr Hoskins, of St Mark’s Road, Henley, said: “Similar man-made channels are elsewhere on the Thames, including the locks at Hurley, Culham and Clifton Hampden.

“After landscaping and planting, such artificial channels become indistinguishable from natural watercourses and add to biodiversity.”

The plant would comprise a concrete box mostly below ground level, housing two or three Archimedes screw turbines, each with its own semi-circular trough along with control sluice gates and inlet and outlet channels.

Above ground there would be a small machinery house containing the main turbine, gearboxes, generators, electrical inverters and switchgear as well as control equipment for the sluice gates.

The turbines would have been connected to the river from upstream through a channel about 180m long, starting just upstream of the layby for boats waiting to pass through Hambleden lock. Bridges would have been installed for walkers using the Thames towpath.

When the trust vetoed the first option, Mr Hoskins sent a revised proposal to use pre-cast concrete culverts in the channel, which would be back-filled so that it would not be visible.

He also proposed that the turbine house be “camouflaged” with bushes and trees.

The trust rejected this plan last week.

Mr Hoskins, who chairs Henley Town Council’s climate emergency 2030 working group, said the Hambleden covenant contained a presumption against development because of the Viscount’s fears over post-war new towns.

He said: “We will never achieve net zero unless we review legal commitments in light of the climate change crisis.

“What is amazing is that, according to the National Trust’s website, it has a resilience committee which makes bold statements about green issues and its aspirations towards renewable energy projects. The website proudly cites several examples of renewable projects, including hydro schemes established on trust properties. You get the feeling that its left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is up to.”

Alex Dick, manager of the Culden Faw estate, said: “I would like to introduce the scheme as it is making use of a natural asset to produce energy with very little impact on the environment at a time when we are facing an energy crisis.

“We are trying across the board to move away from fossil fuels so it is rather strange that at the weekend the boss of the National Trust, Hilary McGrady, said that the Government was ‘demonising conservationists’.”

Graham Deans, the National Trust’s assistant director of operations, London and South-East, said: “Climate change poses the biggest threat to the places we care for and we believe strongly in the need to grow renewable energy and reduce the use of fossil fuels. We also believe that delivering these projects with respect for the natural and historic setting is essential.

“The National Trust holds a restrictive covenant over 3,900 acres of land in the Hambleden Valley. The purpose of the covenant is to protect and preserve the historic architecture and rural integrity of the area.

“Every planning application is individually assessed to explore whether it would have an adverse impact on the covenanted land and whether this could be mitigated.

“In the case of the proposed hydroelectric scheme at Hambleden lock, we believe the intervention and scale of the proposed structure would have a detrimental impact on the landscape.”