Flooding fears have been voiced by the owner of a boat marina on the River Nene after a temporary repair to sluice gates protecting a section of the water course.

Clive Hodgson owns the Willy-Watt Marina in Ringstead which provides mooring for 250 private boats based both above and below Lower Ringstead sluice and lock, and runs two day-hire boats.

After chains that held a sluice gate up broke in January, he hoped they would be mended quickly but instead of replacement chains, dam boards have been installed as a temporary fix.

Now the towpath is underwater, leaving boat users having to paddle to access their craft and Clive in fear of the next spell of heavy rain. He said: “I’m hoping and praying that it doesn’t rain. Some of the moorings are now underwater, we can still get to them but you would have to wear your wellies."

On January 24, one of the chains that hold the sluice gate up broke, the Environment Agency were informed and they came out to view it.

Clive said: “A week later, after a lot of worry, in case the second and final chain broke, the Environment Agency sent some contractors out to put in place some dam boards.

"This is to prevent this section of the river, draining right down and damaging 200 boats and leaving 100 people homeless.

“Putting the boards in place has solved one problem but caused another problem. So now they cannot open the sluice gate to keep the river level down.

"This means the river in this section is running a foot higher than it should be.

"Unfortunately, some of my boat moorings are now underwater. Plus, the water is going over the top of the lock gates, which is dangerous when the lock is in use.

"I also run two day-hire boats and it will not be safe to send these through the lock while it is in this state.

"This means we most likely will have to cancel a large number of bookings we have for this spring and summer.

"It will also be dangerous for private inexperienced boat owners, as there is a higher risk of their boats sinking in the lock, due to the volume of water passing over the top of the pointing doors, flooding their boats."

The Environment Agency says they will be looking to fix the sluice gate as part of their programme for the 2025 to 2026 period after ‘scoping’ works this month.

A spokesman for the Environment Agency said: “At the end of January, one of the chains broke on Lower Ringstead sluice. Lower Ringstead sluice is a water control structure that manages river levels in normal flow conditions on the River Nene in Northamptonshire.

"The primary concern with the failure of the structure was the impact on the marina upstream and the navigation of the River Nene.

"The Environment Agency are the statutory navigation authority on the river Nene. Our emergency framework suppliers used damboards to ensure the safety of boaters and the navigation. In larger floods, the structure has minimal impact on flood levels as it gets swamped by higher levels.

“Our officers investigated if a quick fix could be implemented while on our contractors were on site, but our mechanical and electrical engineers felt there were other risks associated with the working methods proposed and would not address the root cause of the failure.

"We have engaged with our supply chain to carry out scoping works between now and the end of March 2025. The fix will then form part of our programme for 2025-26.”

Clive said: “If we have a large storm and a lot of rain which causes the river to rise, the chances of the eight residential properties and the other two businesses situated here getting flooded has increased dramatically as they can’t open the sluice up to discharge the water. “What I can’t understand is the contractor who put the dam boards in place, wanted to buy and fit new chains and this would have solved all of the problems and all the hire costs.

"Now the Environment Agency have off hired the crane barge, after it sat for three weeks and the EA have paid to have the barge taken away at a cost that would be more than it would be to fix the chain on the sluice. “Surely, a sensible situation would have been to temporarily fix the chains and then do a planned maintenance of the whole structure. "I have lived and worked near to the sluice at Willy-Watt Marina for 20 years and they have never done any maintenance on it. Once they sent divers down to inspect it, but they could not get close to it due to the water flow.

“I have offered to buy the chains and fit them myself if the problem is money. They have told me sternly that I am not allowed to work on their structure.

“This is going to seriously affect our business and if we have another storm others too.”

It is believed this is not the only sluice on the River Nene that has dam boards fitted.