Work to start on repairing river bank

Work to strengthen a section of river bank in Exeter which was subjected to erosion before Christmas, is to be carried out over the next few weeks.

Exeter City Council has confirmed that work on the banks of the River Exe at Duck’s Marsh Meadow will start on Wednesday (23 January) and take around three weeks to complete.

In late December, a small section of land close to St James Weir collapsed, taking with it a newly installed park bench. The bench is to be replaced by the Council, further back from its original location.

Since the original erosion, the land has been fenced off as a safety measure while the Council assesses the damage.

Before any work can be done to strengthen the river bank, an access road needs to be created over the leat and across the grass to allow vehicles to get on site. The existing bridge over the leat isn’t strong enough or wide enough to support heavy vehicles.

Once access arrangements are complete, heavy rocks – some weighing as much as 4 tons - can be brought in to allow a rock armour face to be built into the section of river bank that has suffered erosion. The works have been agreed by the Environment Agency.

Cllr David Harvey, Lead Councillor for Place, said: “We are keen to protect the land at Duck’s Marsh Meadow and prevent any further erosion to the riverside.

“Construction will start on Wednesday and in the interests of safety, I would encourage people to stay away from the area whilst the work is ongoing. Those who do regularly use this route will need to take extra care and be patient over the coming weeks.”

“Once the work is completed we are hopeful that it will prevent the river from re-aligning itself and claiming more of Duck’s Marsh Meadow, but we won’t know for certain just how successful the work has been until the river is in full flow from heavy rainfall,” added Cllr Harvey.