The River Thames heads the winter programme, with almost £6m of much needed works being carried out over the forthcoming months. The largest project will take place at Teddington, where £850,000 will be spent on major repairs to the Lock Island, including the stabilisation of banks that are collapsing because of erosion exacerbated by this summer’s exceptional rain and fast flows.

Pinkhill Lock will also undergo a vital £500,000 refurbishment and public power will be installed at Godstow, Clifton, Mapledurham and Marsh Locks. This work will allow boaters to open lock gates automatically, rather than manually, when the lock keeper is off duty.

Meanwhile, the continuation of a five year programme to replace landing stages along the River Great Ouse and the ongoing restoration of a unique scheduled monument, South Ferriby Lock, are just two of a range of diverse projects that will be taking place in the EA’s Anglian Region, which includes Norwich, Peterborough and Lincoln.

Work on installing nine new landing stages on the River Great Ouse by 2012 got underway earlier this year with the replacement of the Castle Mills Downstream Landing Stage and another replacement is planned for this winter.

Almost £200,000 has also been earmarked for further renovations to the lock at South Ferrriby. Working closely with English Heritage, which must approve all alterations to the historic structure built back in 1842, the EA will be modifying the system for filling and emptying the lock, replacing access steps and carrying out general safety works around the site.

In all, £2.7m of funding from the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) will be spent on upgrading navigational sites and structures in this region. A further £2.5m from external partners will also pay for the start of Phase 1 of the Fens Waterways Link, preparation work for the building of a new lock at Boston.

Finally, almost £2m will be spent on 15 projects on Kent’s River Medway.

All winter works are scheduled to be completed by March 2008 but, following the summer floods, the Environment Agency is warning that projects could again be disrupted by high flows on the rivers this winter.