Site Event/Activity record ECH6801 - Dutton Sluice Hydroelectricity Project, Dutton, Cheshire: Heritage Assessment

A heritage assessment was produced in 2019 for Hallidays Hydropower Ltd in support of proposals for the development of a new hydroelectric generation plant at the Dutton Sluice, Dutton, on the River Weaver (SJ 358768 377078). An Archimedean screw turbine is proposed adjacent to the Dutton Sluice, and a new power house building on top of the turbine will contain generators and ancillary electrical equipment. New palisade security fencing will enclose the new infrastucture. The work will include some dredging of the river bed and shallow excavations to facilitate a new inlet channel, fishpass, ramp, resting pool and embankment. Immediately to the north of the proposed development site is Dutton Sluice, a Grade II Listed Building. The desk-based assessment supported by a site assessment has shown that including Dutton Sluice there are some 22 heritage assets within the 0.5km study area. An impact assessment has shown that there is potentially a direct (physical) negative effect on Dutton Sluice.The physical changes comprise alterations to, and removal of fabric around, the southern end of the asset; specifically the platform on which it the sluice gates and footbridge are supported. There is also a slight potential impact on timbers adjacent to the sluice, probably associated with construction work on the sluice, circa 1900 (Site 06). There is also indirect negative effects on an adjacent undesignated asset (Site 07), which is a brick structure, circa 1900, probably associated with the River Weaver Water Gauge (Site 05). (1)