Engineering The Ash Aqueduct

The cable-stayed design     When the proposal for a series of six locks was opposed, Surrey County Council (SCC) came up with three proposals to carry the canal across the valley - a concrete trough, a bow-string arch, and (the favoured option) a design for a cable-stayed structure.     This had advantages over the others in that it achieved the crossing of the road and Blackwater River in a single, elegant, asymmetric design. A striking, 20th century structure which would become a landmark. Slim with style and grace despite its 90ft high tower.     By enabling the main span to be supported from above, it would avoid the need for re-inforcement techniques and minimise the risk of future maintenance problems within the bridge deck. The SCC designers were enthusiastic about it at a public meeting in Ash Vale in December 1992 and planning permission was expected in 1993. But this was not to be. As reported by Peter Jones in BC News 162, Summer 1993 -     "The first thing was that through a breakdown in communications, various County Councillors were not told of the plan for this design. They found out by accident. Then a public meeting in Ash Vale had an attendance of only 20 people. But 13 yards of the proposed aqueduct were in Hampshire, so there was a public meeting in Aldershot. This time 100 people attended, even though the meeting was in a semi-detached 3 bedroomed house. Two Rushmore Councillors showed violent opposition to the idea of a tower structure. Those 13 yards in Hampshire required plans to be approved by Rushmore Borough Council. Permission for the tower option was refused. "SCC was not pleased with Rushmore’s refusal. A large amount of public money had gone into the design, let alone the time spent in planning. The model alone cost £3,000. So SCC approached the Royal Fine Arts Commission, and made a presentation to that august body of people eminent in the art world. Two weeks later came the verdict. The proposed aqueduct was ‘overdesigned and out of scale in a flat, wooded location which was also a conservation area and close to housing’.

"It is difficult to reconcile that last statement with the gas holder in Aldershot, also near the BVR, grey-painted, 150 feet high, amongst housing. This has been designated a Hampshire Treasure by the Hampshire County Council. Anything more out of scale in a flat location close to houses is difficult to imagine. Yet presumably this is precious enough to require preservation".     [The same could be said of the high Army tower block at Aldershot, seen here from the Ash embankment, just near to the 'bat island' - website editor.]     "In view of the opposition, disappointed SCC officials then redesigned the aqueduct in a more conventional way. It is wider than the tower design, needs more foundations and more of the embankment has to be removed. Some may say that an opportunity to build an imaginative structure has been missed, that men of vision have been defeated by the more mundane. Others may say it is a victory for local democracy, the individual triumphing over the official".     [from: BC News 162, Summer 1993]   BACK

Last updated November 2001