‘Dog-dip’ promises to “enhance pet and wildlife safety”
Richmond Council’s Parks team has announced an all-new ‘dog-dip’ that is now available at Kneller Gardens in Twickenham. This “long-awaited improvement” to the park promises to provide safe and sustainable access to the Duke of Northumberland’s River, both for dogs and people, aiming to discourage and reduce any disturbance at the location of the Mereway fish ladder. The site sees migratory fish bypass the weir to access spawning grounds further up in the catchment.
The council recommended that park users use the new dog-dip as an alternative to allowing their dogs to access the river further upstream. This is to help protect fish and wildfowl and reduce bank erosion. However, the council also says to “please be aware of the harmful effects of flea treatments to the wider aquatic ecosystem and keep animals out of the water following application.”
The dog-dip has been designed with a two-tiered platform. This reduces the slope gradient and contains the rising water during periods of high flow. The surrounding area has been gently landscaped using the excavated spoil and sown with amenity grass seed. The adjacent riverbanks have also been repaired where they had previously become heavily eroded.
During the next few months, local volunteers from the Friends of Meadway Orchard will be carrying out further improvement works to the area on both sides of the river, hedge-laying and constructing dead hedges to protect the bank.
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