The picture above shows Stratford Lock in a state of disrepair with substantial leakage and vegetation growing from the walls. After the Navigation went into liquidation in 1913 the river became derelict and neglected with broken down locks and fallen trees falling into the water and blocking its flow and silting up the river bed. The Navigation remained responsible for the river but its inability to maintain the Navigation infrastructure caused flooding over the surrounding agricultural land. The Ministry of Agriculture set up the Drainage Board in 1918 and in 1921 asked the Navigation to remove the “remains” of the locks at Horkesley and Boxted and to open the paddles of Langham and Stratford Locks as they were obstructing the flow. By now the upper reaches of the River Stour were derelict and quite unusable by craft.
Landowners and the Ministry of Agriculture were concerned about the state of the river but, despite many meetings, little was done about it until after the Second World War. During that time the condition of the river deteriorated more until the river was in a very poor condition.