CP1084-14 Grand Western Canal Weed Boat

The Grand Western Canal Country Park meanders through the mid-Devon countryside and quiet villages between Tiverton and Lowdwells (near the Somerset border), declared a Country Park in 1971 and a Local Nature Reserve in 2005, it is managed by Devon County Council's Countryside Services. The Canal within the Country Park is an 11 mile long nutrient rich water body which every year between early spring and late autumn chokes up with a range of native and invasive alien water plants. The increase in invasive alien species and changes in weather patterns with more extreme storm events flushing in large volume of silt and nutrients this has increased the volume of weed needing to be cleared in order to keep the waterway open for recreational and business use. The canal ranger service has one weed harvesting boat but this is becoming increasingly unreliable with frequent breakages and long periods of downtime awaiting parts for repairs, resulting in huge backlogs of work if the weather is suitable. Keeping the canal channel clear of weed is also very important in safely managing canal water levels during severe weather events. The canal rangers service wishes to purchase a new weed boat, initially at least to compliment the existing one, although in the medium term the existing boat may become uneconomic to repair. Rather than purchase a replacement weed harvester boat with the inherent large number of moving parts and separate mechanisms that are all liable to breakage, we wish to procure a simpler boat that cuts and then rakes up the cut material to deposit on the canal banks for collection.