BW60
Trent River Board
Description
Records of the Trent River Board: annual reports 1962-1970.
Date
1962-1970
Reference code
BW60
Administrative / Biographical history
Administration of drainage and flood control was once under the authority of local commissioners of sewage. In 1930 the Land Drainage Act set up catchment boards whose areas of control were equivalent to the catchment areas of a river or group of rivers. Each Board had powers to take over navigations and adjust navigation rights. Within each Catchment Board were internal Drainage Boards financed by local land rating and government grants. The 1948 River Boards Act replaced the Catchment and Drainage Boards with River Boards, which had similar powers except in the case of the rivers Thames and Lee. River Boards were also responsible for fisheries, anti-pollution work and river gauging. An example of the work of the Trent River Board was the elimination in the 1950s of the small flood-lock at Holme as part of the Board's Nottingham flood prevention scheme. The 1963 Water Resources Act replaced the River Boards with River Authorities, with an advisory Water Resources Board overseeing the River Authorities. Under the 1973 Water Resources Act, Regional Water Authorities were established, covering England and Wales. Water supply, drainage and sewerage were unified within the boundaries of the natural watersheds defining each Regional Water Authority. As they replaced bodies like the Thames Conservancy, they had some navigational responsibilities, notably the Anglian Water Authority for the Great Ouse and other Fenland navigations. From 1989 they have been under the central control of the National Rivers Authority and are now called Regions (e.g. Anglian Region, etc.).
For further information on the Trent River Board see Edward Paget-Tomlinson's 'The Illustrated History of Canals & River Navigations' and Charles Hadfield's 'The Canals of the East Midlands'.
System of arrangement
It has not been possible to ascertain any original structure of record-keeping from the small number of records held for this company. The fonds has therefore been arranged in chronological order.