Abingdon Weir Walkway

The weir walkway at Abingdon will remain open after 30 September 2025 until river flows increase. 

The walkway supporting structure continues to need refurbishment in order to achieve its full design strength. It therefore remains at risk from impact damage during high flows. We are progressing the necessary strengthen works but will have to temporarily close the walkway when river flows increase in order to safeguard our customers. Once our contractor is able to mobilise to site, to complete the strengthening work, we will also temporarily close the walkway during the construction period.

We appreciate all our customers' patience while we progress this important work and are grateful to everyone for continuing to use the footpath diversion when the weir walkway is temporarily closed.

Background

Abingdon walkway and weir structure were built in the 1960s.The walkway carries the Thames path from Abingdon lock to the Abingdon Meadows.

The most recent survey of Abingdon walkway revealed that several sections require refurbishment.  

We have taken many factors into consideration when making the decision to re-open the walkway including the current low flows and reduced likelihood of debris impacts on our weir. The structural survey and subsequent diver's surveys show that the supporting steel A frames are corroded along the weir walkways, especially on the small radial weir gate section.

Next steps

We are evaluating the extent of the walkway strengthening work that can be carried out this financial year, and whether the walkways can continue to be kept open during the winter months. We will review this at the end of September. 

There will then be an update to this page about next steps.

Site security

We have experienced repeated vandalism of our security measures since the walkway was closed to the public.  We will be reviewing our site security and will be putting in additional measures to ensure that if we need to close the walkway again, it will remain secure.

In order to keep members of the public safe, the weir walkway will be closed when any refurbishment works are carried out.

Contact us

If you see damage at this site or any other of our assets, please call our 24 hour Incident Hotline on 0800 80 70 60. More information can be found at https://www.gov.uk/report-environmental-problem(External link)

Please email us at enquiries_thm@environment-agency.gov.uk(External link) however please note that the most up to date information can be found here on this information page.

You can also phone our National Customer Contact Centre on 03708 506 506 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm).

picture of the section of the weir that requires refurbishment