Improved and safer moorings, clearer gauge boards at bridges on the southern rivers, weed and tree cutting and riverside maintenance is upgrading the infrastructure of the Broads.

New 24 hour moorings
Somerton Boat Dyke
New free 24 hour moorings are to be improved in West Somerton ready for the spring bank holiday. The Broads Authority is taking over the lease and refurbishing the 180 m informal moorings in this much-loved and picturesque area at the head of River Thurne. The banks are to be levelled and new mooring posts put in.

St Benet's Abbey
Informal moorings at St Benet's Abbey are due to become free 24 hour moorings by Easter. They are to be refurbished with new timbers on the piling, mooring posts, signage and an easy access footpath built.

Sutton Staithe
A 143 m stretch of moorings at Sutton Staithe was refurbished last spring. The staithe was repaired with new tie rods and safety chains and ladders were added for the first time to comply with the requirements of the Port Marine Safety Code. A new granite pathway has also been added.

Jenson's Island
Work on new 24 hour moorings at Jenson's Island at the entrance to Oulton Broad will begin this spring. The development will have a double benefit in that the cut in the west of the island will be piled at the entrance to take the dredgings from the mouth of Oulton Broad. Once this is filled in a new stern on 24 hour mooring will be created. The £52,000 cost is being paid for by the additional toll funding.

Moorings repaired
Extensive emergency repairs were carried out to 150 m of moorings at Paddy's Lane, at the northern end of Barton Broad at a cost of £40,000. New tie rods, waling and capping were installed and the path was resurfaced in time for the last spring bank holiday.

A 55 m stretch of mooring at Cockshoot Dyke was refurbished in the autumn and work on the remaining 96 m will be carried out in the spring. Irstead 24 hour mooring was also repaired.

Safety ladders and chains
A £100,000 programme to install chains, ladders, life buoys and throwing lines at all Broads Authority moorings over the next five years has begun. The programme will see 80 ladders and 4,000 metres of chain put in as part of the campaign to make the Broads safer.

Last year 19 ladders were installed at 10 moorings, including five at Mutford Lock, Oulton Broad. Chains have gone in at Stokesby, Deep Go Dyke and Deep Dyke at Hickling, Sutton Staithe, Cockshoot Dyke and Irstead. In 2007 16 ladders will be installed at 11 moorings.

New gauge boards
Fourteen new metal gauge boards, informing boaters of water height, have replaced the old wooden boards at Becdes Old Road Bridge, Haddiscoe Bridge, Postwick Viaduct, and Thorpe Viaduct at Thorpe Green.
They are marked in both imperial and metric, are easier to read and maintain, are vandal proof and more hard wearing.

Weedcutting
Weedcutting was carried out on Whitlingham Great Broad (paid for by Norfolk County Council), Somerton, Horsey Mere, Waxham Cut, Martham Dyke and Norwich. A trial cut was also carried out at Barton Turf.

Tree cutting
An on going programme of tree cutting on the river banks is carried out all year round to remove hazards and obstructions for boats and improve conditions for sailing. In summer fallen or overhanging trees causing obstructions are cleared but during the winter a planned programme of clearing overhanging or densely growing trees within 10 m of the river bank is carried out. This winter tree cutting has been carried out at Lime Kiln Dyke off Barton Broad, the River Ant up to Stalham, the River Bure from Salhouse Broad to Horning and from Wroxham to Coltishall, and the River Yare at Train Reach near Brundall.

During last summer two emergencies were dealt with when trees fell on motor boats. At Lime Kiln Dyke it took three Broads Authority staff from the River Works team three hours to cut up a tree which had fallen on a hire cruiser, and downriver from Belaugh staff worked from 5pm to 10pm cutting up a tree which had fallen on a private boat.

Risk assessments were undertaken to identify the safest method to remove the trees before any work began. On both occasions the Navigation Works Supervisor was present.