Latest re Cotswold canal

The Inland Waterways Association give a useful summary (in blue):

Photo: Canal near Brimscombe from train

The bid to The Big Lottery Fund for an award under the Living Landmarks programme to restore the Stroudwater Navigation from Stonehouse to Saul Junction was announced as being unsuccessful on 14th November.

The bid, made by British Waterways and Stroud District Council on behalf of the Cotswold Canals Partnership, sought £19 million towards the £24.5 million restoration of a four-mile stretch of the Stroudwater Navigation. However, the project did benefit from £250,000 bid-development funding, which enabled many of the essential studies to promote restoration to be undertaken, and will greatly assist future funding bids.

Further east on the Stroudwater Navigation, work to remove the infill from the waterway between Ryeford Double Lock and Oil Mills Bridge started in November. So far, 8,420 tons of earth and domestic waste have already been removed from 240 metres of canal; a mains gas pipe has been diverted; alternative access to houses and business built; over 300 slow worms and grass snakes relocated; vegetation cleared; and archaeological investigation carried out. Work to Oil Mills Bridge has started, and is due to be complete by March 2008.

On the Thames & Severn Canal, WRG regional groups have undertaken work to clear the canal around Gough’s Orchard Lock, close to Brimscombe Port, removing trees and overgrowth. British Waterways has arranged training courses at nearby colleges for volunteers, offering training on the canals in archaeology, aquatic plant identification, brush-cutter and strimmer use; masonry repairs and use of chippers. Regeneration of the area around Brimscombe Port is being led by Stroud District Council. This is to include the development of the site around the Port and the restoration of the water-space, and is closely linked in with the Area Action Plan being developed by the Council for Brimscombe. Further information on the restoration of the Cotswold Canals is available at www.cotswoldcanalsproject.org

Freight on canals - contact your MP

Mike Hancock MP for Portsmouth South, has launched an Early Day Motion that notes the environmental benefits and calls on both Government and major retailers to support the movement of freight by water. Early Day Motion 67 states:“That this House notes that moving freight by water is several times more environmentally sustainable than doing so by road and takes lorries off the congested road network; further notes that water freight makes a major contribution to the UK's economy and employs more than 200,000 people; welcomes the role played by Sea and Water in promoting water freight; calls on major retailers and others to do more to make their supply chains more green by making use of inland waterways and short sea shipping; and urges the Government to continue to support the water freight industry with policies to develop and maintain the inland waterway network and by ensuring that planning policies in particular encourage rather than hinder access to the waterways.”

There is also Early Day Motion 169 which states:“That this House congratulates Tesco's for switching from lorry to water the transport of its new world wine over the 32 miles from Liverpool to its bottling plant in Irlam saving 50 lorry trips a week and cutting carbon emissions by 80 per cent.; notes Sainsbury's has recently conducted similar trials in London; believes the Department for Transport should create a dedicated unit to encourage greater use of our inland and coastal waterways as recommended by the recent Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee report on British Waterways recommending fiscal incentives to stimulate greater waterways use; and believes much can be learnt from other countries in Europe on using British waterways to reduce noise, pollution and traffic congestion”.

IWA is encouraging members and other waterways supporters to contact their MP and to lobby them to sign and support both Early Day Motion 67 (51 signatures by 30th November) and 169 (60 signatories by 30th November), as the Association wishes as many MPs as possible to be made aware of some of the wider environmental benefits of the waterways to society as a whole, especially at a time of funding pressures and increased costs to users. David Drew has signed both. The following link can be used to find the MP for any area and contact them to register support for the motions: www.writetothem.com