The Great River Ouse: Changes in flow near Buckingham and potential impacts

This past weekend, FA4B took a closer look at the Great River Ouse as it leaves Buckingham, flowing under an old "farm" bridge outside the ring road. We filmed two videos of the river, one on Friday the 6th 11:32 and another on Saturday 7th 08:21, and the change in water flow was striking.

What stood out was how the river, when passing under the bridge, appears to be constricted by the narrowness of the structure. As the river flows away from town, it seems to be diverted into the drainage channel next to the ring road, flowing up the channel rather than following its usual course downstream. The water then appears to spread out further up the channel across the nearby fields, which is a curious shift in the river’s natural path.

This change in flow raises important questions. Could the constriction of the bridge be contributing to this diversion? And what are the implications for the surrounding area, and the town upstream, particularly in terms of potential flooding, water quality, or natural habitats?

We leave it up to viewers to form their own conclusions based on the footage. However, we plan to raise these observations with the Environment Agency (EA) and other local stakeholders, as this could be an issue worth discussing further.

It will be interesting to see if the EA has any insights into how the bridge may be affecting the river’s flow and if there are any plans to address this.