navvies volunteers restoring waterways
Looking forward to a summer of WRG Canal Camps?
...or back to the Dark Ages on the Uttoxeter Canal? issue 306 april-may 2021
Intro 2021 Canal Camp sites?
Potential Canal Camp site 1: finish the Derby’s Borrowash Lock Site 2: rebuild the Cotswold’s Westfield Lock (it’s in there somewhere!)
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In this issue Contents For latest news on our activities visit our website wrg.org.uk See facebook group: WRG Follow us on Twitter: @wrg_navvies Production Editor: Martin Ludgate, 35 Silvester Road, East Dulwich London SE22 9PB 020-8693 3266 martin.ludgate@wrg.org.uk Subscriptions: WRG, Island House, Moor Road, Chesham HP5 1WA Printing and assembly: John Hawkins, 4 Links Way, Croxley Green WD3 3RQ 01923 448559 john.hawkins@wrg.org.uk Navvies is published by Waterway Recovery Group, Island House, Moor Rd., Chesham HP5 1WA and is available to all interested in promoting the restoration and conservation of inland waterways by voluntary effort in Great Britain. Articles may be reproduced in allied magazines provided that the source is acknowledged. WRG may not agree with opinions expressed in this magazine, but encourages publication as a matter of interest. Nothing printed may be construed as policy or an official announcement unless so stated - otherwise WRG and IWA accept no liability for any matter in this magazine. Waterway Recovery Group is part of The Inland Waterways Association, (registered office: Island House, Moor Road, Chesham HP5 1WA), a non-profit distributing company limited by guarantee, registered in England no 612245, and registered as a charity no 212342. VAT registration no 342 0715 89. Directors of WRG: Rick Barnes, John Baylis, George Eycott, Emma Greenall, Helen Gardner, John Hawkins, Dave Hearnden, Nigel Lee, Mike Palmer, George Rogers, Jonathan Smith, Harry Watts. ISSN: 0953-6655
© 2021 WRG
PLEASE NOTE: subs renewal cheques MUST be made out to The Inland Waterways Association NOTE new subs address below Contents Editorial Things are finally getting better... except perhaps on the Uttoxeter Canal 4-6 Chairman 7 Camps pre-preview the first (still very provisional) news on six summer sites 8-15 Restoration feature: the ‘Navigli’ canals of the area of Italy near Milan 16-20 WRG Whisky order your bottle now! 21 Eco-Highways a different approach on the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal 22-25 Progress news roundup from around the system 26-33 Navvies news Wanna buy a Smalley? 34-36 Infill Deirdre and BCN picture quiz 37-38 Outro more pics of 2021 Canal Camp sites 39
Contributions... ...are welcome, whether by email or post. Photos welcome: digital (as email attachments, or if you have a lot of large files please send them on CD / DVD or contact the editor first), or old-school slides / prints. Contributions by post to the editor Martin Ludgate, 35, Silvester Road, London SE22 9PB, or by email to martin.ludgate@wrg.org.uk. Press date for issue 307: 1 May.
Subscriptions A year's subscription (6 issues) is a minimum of £3.00 (cheques to The Inland Waterways Association) to WRG, Island House, Moor Road, Chesham HP5 1WA. Please add a donation if you can.
Cover pics Front cover: happier times on the Uttoxeter Canal, seen here at the 2005 opening of the first lock and basin at Froghall. This restoration’s future hung in the balance as we went to press - see editorial, p4. Inside front cover, inside back cover and outside back cover pictures show a selection of canals that (fingers crossed) might host Canal Camps this year (pictures by the editor)
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Editorial forward or back? Will there be Canal Camps this summer? And will developers have got permission to trash the Uttoxeter? Or will the council have stood up to them? Going forward into a summer of Canal Camps? Are we being overoptimistic? Let’s just have a quick look back at the last six issues of Navvies, since the last ‘normal’ one came out in February 2020 with a preview of a jolly summer of Canal Camps to look forward to, lots of training opportunities to get us ready for it, a call for volunteers for Little Venice, and plenty of pics of people sharing WRG 50th birthday cakes on worksites up and down the country. And then it all changed. Since then we’ve had...
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The ‘Lots is going on in the background’ issue The ‘Cake and hope for the future’ issue The ‘Getting back to work’ (at least for local canal societies) issue What was going to be the ‘WRG is back on site’ issue, but despite two successful weekend digs turned into the ‘Taking the wider view’ issue as the Covid rates went up again The ‘Light at the end of the tunnel’ issue with WRG taking the first steps towards planning for future Canal Camps The ‘A way forward’ issue as those plans began to crystallise
Martin Ludgate
Given this list, I think you could be forgiven for feeling that after a year of false dawns, the credibility of this continuing optimistic tone is beginning to wear just a teeny-weeny bit thin. Indeed, you may well be having thoughts along the lines of “Come on folks, exactly how, why and for how much longer is Navvies keeping this pretence going?” And yes, while I stand by what we said at the time it was written in each of these issues (although it was subsequently overtaken by events multiple times), we do seem to have been predicting that “things are going to get better” for rather a long time, while for a fair bit of that time they manifestly haven’t got much better. Perhaps I should have gone with my initial gut instincts in the depths of winter and produced the “Christ almighty, can it get any worse?” issue. So all-in-all I fear that it might be getting to be increasingly hard work trying to convince you that any positive ‘looking forward’ type stuff in any more issues is to be taken seriously. Unless it’s accompanied by something a bit more concrete. Well in this issue, it is. Firstly, those of you who have been receiving an electronic 2014 WRG Camp on Uttoxeter Bridge 70. But will it ever see a boat?
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copy of Navvies for the last six issues (i.e. everyone except the relatively small number whose email address we didn’t have) will notice that for this one we’ve gone back to print. We haven’t yet gone back to the old way of doing things – not only is running a volunteer envelope-stuffing session in central London (and a rush-hour tube ride to get there) still not really a Covid-sensible thing to do, but the company that used to make the plates for John Hawkins’ printing press has gone out of business and we haven’t found another yet. So it’s costing us quite a bit more, but we feel it’s worth it as (a) a response to the overwhelming majority who replied to my editorial in issue 304 in support of returning to paper printing, and to the feeling that people simply weren’t reading the e-version, and more importantly (b) part of a commitment to getting back to work and to reality, if not quite to ‘normal’. And secondly you’ll find in this issue a ‘camps preview’ article which aims to give you the closest thing we can manage to a prediction of which canals will be hosting Canal Camps later this year. No, we don’t have a dates list yet. No, we aren’t yet certain that all of these sites will feature on it. And no, we can’t even be 100 percent sure that there will be a camps programme at all – for all we know there might be another twist in the Covid story which could yet throw another spanner in the works. But we’re confident enough of there being a good chance of a Canal Camps season running from August onwards that we’ve decided to go into print. We hope to have more – including details of dates and sites – in the next issue. And in the meantime, keep an eye on the WRG website and Facebook group for updates. And we might even bring back the Navvies Diary pages!
...or going backwards into the Dark Ages? Having started out on an optimistic note with signs that WRG really is coming to life at last, it’s all the more galling to have to recount that in Staffordshire, a promising canal restoration project may or may not (by the time you read this) have been dealt a fatal blow at the hands of a housing developer more interested in short term profit than the future of the canals, and (if they have given the plans the go-ahead) a local authority with no integrity / vision / spine. The canal in question is the Uttoxeter, where the Caldon & Uttoxeter Canals Trust has spent the last 15 years building on the success of the Destination Froghall project, broadening its vision from simply creating a better terminus for the Caldon Canal to pushing for the reopening of the whole 13 miles down the beautiful but inaccessible Churnet Valley and back through to Uttoxeter. It’s not an easy restoration – it was shut as long ago as the 1840s, parts of it were used for a railway line, and the final few miles from Denstone to Uttoxeter will probably have to be replaced by a new canal on a different alignment. But studies have shown that reopening it is feasible, WRG and CUCT volunteers have carried out a fair amount of work on it (including three WRG Reunion weekends, several Canal Camps and regular local working parties), it’s been taken sufficiently seriously to gain support in the form of funding from the Lottery via the Landscape Partnerhips initiative, and it’s seen its first major practical project completed in the form of the rebuilt Bridge 70. But when I say “it is feasible”, by now I might actually mean “it was feasible”. Because at one pinch-point, right at the start of the route at Froghall, property developers have put in a planning application to Staffordshire Moorlands District Council in February to build a housing estate right slap bang across the route of the canal, not only blocking the original line but also (given the constricted location at the bottom of a deep valley) any practicable alternative route around it. Steve Wood of CUCT reckons that this will totally stop the restoration in its tracks – there simply won’t be any way through. No, of course it wouldn’t actually be impossible to bypass it – I guess perhaps a tunnel and maybe some new flights of locks might do the trick. (Or a couple of boat lifts? They’re all the rage, aren’t they?) But realistically Steve believes that this “permanently ends any opportunity to reinstate the canal” – and that will be the end of CUCT’s restoration plans. And the volunteers’ work there over 15 years will have been wasted. This is serious. It’s hard to think of another case where a single bad planning decision has so comprehensively put paid to an entire active canal restoration. Perhaps the decision by British Waterways to sell off chunk of the Shrewsbury & Newport Canals for demolition in the early 1960s, just as the first restoration scheme was getting going? But even that only put its reopening back by a mere few decades.
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Martin Ludgate
To make matters worse, the planning application flies in the face of policies already adopted to preserve the route of the Uttoxeter Canal for the future. It’s in contravention of the agreed Staffordshire Moorlands Local Plan and Churnet Valley Masterplan documents, both of which protect the canal line. So does that mean the Council planners will have felt duty bound to turn down the application? Well I’m sure we all hope so – but it isn’t always that simple. And the key to it is that part of the site is a piece of ‘brownfield’ (ex industrial) land that the council actually wants to see developed. It wouldn’t be the first Boat on restored length of Naviglio Pavese, Milan (see p16) time that this kind of theoretical protection for a canal restoration was put to the test (it looked like happening on the Lapal a few years back) by a developer putting forward what they knew was a non-compliant (but presumably more profitable) scheme – in the expectation that the council wouldn’t dare to insist on the plans being modified to cater for a restored canal, for fear that the developer would simply walk away (on the grounds that it would no longer be worth their while developing it at all) and leave them stuck with a useless piece of undeveloped land. In between (in CUCT’s view) dismissing the canal’s historical importance, playing down how much their housing estate will damage it and rubbishing the prospects of it being restored by their comments in the application, the developers claim it’s a difficult site to develop, it’s barely financially viable, and they’ll ‘only’ make a modest couple of million from the houses on the canal line. What about the often-quoted ‘added value’ to housing prices that a waterside location is said to bring? I guess by the time the canal was restored and that kicked in, it would be the next generation of home owners who would reap the benefit. But let’s not waste too much breath on the building developers. They’re a private company. It’s their job to make money. That’s ‘greed’ and ‘capitalism’ as our Prime Minister would say. It’s the council’s that’s there to decide whether the development is for the good of the area or not – and to stand up to developers who are playing hardball. By the time you read this we’ll know whether they did. Or whether Staffordshire Moorlands will go down in waterways history as the council that sank the Uttoxeter Canal.
Broadening the appeal... I’ll end on a more upbeat note. Following my report a couple of issues back on some interesting developments in waterway restoration in mainland Europe, I’ve gone one step further this time and included an entire restoration feature about the ancient and fascinating ‘Navigli’ canals of the Milan area of northern Italy where there are good prospects for restoration. And I’ve also included a piece from the Manchester Bolton & Bury with some thoughts on how to make a difficult canal restoration appeal to local authorities. It’s all part of the ‘broaden the appeal’ approach that’s kept Navvies full of stuff that I hope you’ve found interesting during the last year when we’ve had less of our own news to report. But speaking of our own news, hopefully before too many more issues of Navvies have been published we’ll have some more definite news of the first WRG Canal Camps for over 18 months. Martin Ludgate
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chairman’s
Comment
Preparing for a WRG return to work - and looking back at how much the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme has given us over the years Chairman’s Comment You will have already read on page 4 the excellent breakdown of the last twelve months or so from our esteemed editor, together with his explanation of why he (and the rest of the WRG committee) feel confident about the next few months. As ever it is eloquent, honest and well written. So there is no point in me attempting to go over the same ground. However, as we start to think about shaking out our overalls and evicting the sleeping mice out of our boots, I can push some key messages: As you return to site it may well have been up to two years since you last laid bricks, drove a dumper, mixed mortar, lit the Burco, whatever. If you are unsure about any of this then take the time to practice these activities safely before you get going for real. Whilst it might feel important to make up for a year of inactivity, nobody is going to thank you if on day one everything grinds to a halt because you forgot which was the fuel filler cap and which was the hydraulic oil filler cap.
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The site you are returning to may have been ‘fallow’ for two years. Take time to check undergrowth, trip hazards, etc. Remember that while in lockdown, we have been actively encouraging restoration sites and projects to spend time rethinking and improving their working practices. Rather than just piling back into the old ways of working, please take the time to check on any new developments. It will be the case that, as we come back together, you will work alongside people and you will have no idea of how their year has been. You have no idea of their personal life, their work life, their fears or concerns. Please respect people’s individual decisions and actions as we all find out what we feel comfortable with.
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Those four messages apply to all restoration work, this fifth one is really rather specific to WRG:
Yes, making sure our behaviour on the worksite is appropriate is going to be vital, but we have a good track record of managing that. The real challenge is going to be in the accommodation. It would be easier if there were new rules and laws from Government / Authorities etc. But by the time we start it will actually be guidance and recommendations from Government / Authorities etc. And guidance is always a little harder to follow than a law. Now personally speaking I believe that people will behave responsibly, but the WRG Board would not be giving our leaders the support they need and deserve if we didn’t make a clear statement regarding this. It is vital that all volunteers behave responsibly not only on site but also back in the accommodation – we will absolutely back any leader who has to send someone off the Camp if they cannot act responsibly. As I write this the news has arrived of the death of the Duke of Edinburgh. The story of waterway restoration and the royals has tended to feature the Queen Mother or Prince Charles. However perhaps it may well be that Prince Phillip had a subtler but bigger influence. I have been leading Camps for over 30 years and there has never been a time that the acronym “DoE” has not been in wide use. The hours of work that the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme has given us must be a huge figure, not to mention all the brilliant people that have passed through our ranks. There is already much chat on social media about peoples favourite “DoE” story and perhaps we will find time to pull together an article for the next Navvies. The Award Scheme has evolved over the years but at its heart it has a simple objective: A life-changing experience. A fun time with friends. An opportunity to discover new interests and talents. A tool to develop essential skills for life and work. No wonder we got on so well. I’m really looking forward to the summer. Mike Palmer
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coming soon-ish... As we go to press it’s looking like we might actually run some kind of Canal Camps WRG Summer Canal Camps2021 No, you didn’t mis-read that! We really do think that there is enough of a likelihood of us being able to operate a programme of Waterway Recovery Group Canal Camps in summer 2021 that we’ve started on some detailed planning - and we want Navvies readers to know about it as early as possible, so that you can make plans for some summer volunteering. There’s still a lot of organisation and planning work to do, and a limited time to do it in (in a normal year we would usually have worked out at least a provisional schedule at the Bonfire Bash the previous November - but clearly in November 2020 there was no point in us planning anything), and everything might change with the next twist in the Covid-19 saga. So this preview article comes with more than the usual disclaimers...
Martin Ludgate
Nothing in this article is definite at all: it might only take (say) another new and nastier strain of Covid to change the national situation enough to knock the whole lot on the head. Or we might be unable to find accommodation that satisfies our updated requirements in the new era. Or any number of other possible glitches which might impact individual sites, reduce the amount of suitable work for us, or push our dates back further into the future. And speaking of dates, we aren’t in a position to give you any yet, other than the general idea (see panel opposite) that we’ll hope to kick off the programme around August. These are a selection of six projects on six waterways which are the front-runners as Canal Camps projects this summer, if and when that proCanal Camp site for 2021? The Swansea Canal on a 2017 Canal Camp gramme happens.
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Canal Camps pre-preview...? programme this summer after all. So here’s where WRG might be working in 2021 So why are we bothering to tell you about it at all if it’s all so undecided and vague? Well, partly because we want you to know that our people are doing their best to put together a camps programme, so that if and when we can give you something more definite (in the next Navvies and/or via the WRG website and Facebook group) you’ll be more likely to be in a position to book on. But also because all of these projects, whether or not they ultimately end up as work sites for WRG Canal Camps during summer 2021, will undoubtedly be completed in the foreseeable future, largely by volunteers, and almost certainly with WRG input. So it’s worth us telling you about them, whether you end up being able to work there on a summer camp this year, or perhaps next year, or on a weekend dig with a WRG regional group or other mobile group, or by joining a local canal society working party. However having said that, I really do hope to be able to see some of you on a Canal Camp on one of these sites this summer. Now turn the page and read about six potential Canal Camps projects...
Canal Camps 2021 Following much discussion involving the WRG Board and Covid-19 Working Group, WRG is cautiously optimistic that we will be able to return to getting out and about on Canal Camps from the start of August onwards (by which time it is anticipated that the majority of the population will have had their first vaccination). The team at head office are now putting the plans together behind the scenes to work towards this date and will be working with canal restoration groups across the country. In exceptional circumstances the WRG Board may approve individual camps to proceed prior to the 1st August 2021, where a rigorous assessment of risks from Covid on site and at the accommodation will be undertaken. Full guidance on additional controls (compared to pre-Covid camps) will be put together by WRG covering the following issues:
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Attendee numbers Accommodation requirements Local and regional restrictions Safe travel and transport On-site controls
Each camp will be reviewed and will undergo a rigorous assessment to determine that the organisation is comfortable that the risks can be minimised. Mobile groups’ weekend working parties: WRG’s regional groups are considering a slightly earlier return to weekend digging, but are currently reviewing their risk assessments and options. Regional digs may differ from the normal way they are run, with the organising groups opting to run single day events or relying on volunteers to arrange their own accommodation and catering options. Other restoration opportunities: In the meantime, while you are itching to get out and digging, there are plenty of canal restoration groups still working on their vital projects who would welcome your support. Disclaimer: We must note however that while we are planning to run camps, external factors such as new Covid variants, government restrictions and guidelines, may lead us to having to cancel single camps or even the whole circuit.
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preview Derby and Swansea Looking forward to finishing the Derby Canal’s part-restored Borrowash Lower Lock, and returning to South Wales for another Swansea camp Derby & Sandiacre Canal
Why is it important? Volunteers began work here some years ago, but then other projects elsewhere on the route took priority, so the lock was left part-restored. In recent years the Trust has returned to Borrowash to finish the job - supported by a WRG Canal Camp in 2019. In the medium term the Trust hopes to establish a temporary water supply to enable this section to be re-watered - and looking further ahead, there is the prospect of linking up with other projects including the 1km restored section at Draycott and the adjacent canalside cottages under restoration to provide a canal centre and cafe, plus a rental income to pay for further restoration.
Jess Leighton
The Canal Camp work: Working on the completion of the rebuilding of Borrowash Lower Lock, on the Derby to Sandiacre length.
Working at Borrowash on the 2019 camp
The wider picture: In the longer term this length forms part of the Trust’s plan reopen the lengths from Sandiacre and Swarkestone to the outskirts of Derby, connect them together by a new route bypassing Derby, and link it to the city by a boat lift and a length of the Derwent.
Derby & Sandiacre Canal Length: 14 miles Locks: 9 (on main line Swarkestone-Sandiacre) DERBY
Original route obliterated
Date closed: 1964
Proposed diversion past Derby Borrowash Locks work site
Proposed new route into Derby using River Derwent
Proposed new aqueduct and boat lift
Swarkestone Trent & Mersey Canal to Burton
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Trent & Mersey Canal to Shardlow
Erewash Canal to Langley Mill Sandiacre Erewash Canal to the Trent
The Derby & Sandiacre Canal (or to use its original name the Derby Canal) was opened in 1796 for 14 miles and 9 locks from Sandiacre on the Erewash Canal via Derby (where it crossed the River Derwent on the level) to the Trent & Mersey Canal at Swarkestone, plus a branch (not shown on the map) leading north from Derby to Little Eaton. Initially successful, by the 1840s the canal was suffering from competition from railways, although it wasn’t until the 1940s that trade ended. It was allowed to fall derelict and despite protests by the Inland Waterways Association it was abandoned in 1964. It was drained, some lengths near the centre of Derby have since been obliterated, but much of the rest survives.
Swansea Canal The Canal Camp project: We’re likely to be working near the southern end of the surviving length of canal in the Clydach area. Why is it important? Following restoration work at Pontardawe Locks in recent years, a funding grant has enabled the section below these locks to be dredged. Later this year Glandwr Cymru (the Canal & River Trust in Wales) is scheduled to carry out further dredging south to Clydach, while work on vegetation clearance is also planned, with the aim of bringing this section up to navigable standard and starting a tripboat operation. Darren Shepherd
The wider picture: With the top five miles from Godre’r-Graig to Abercraf largely lost to 1970s road improvements, and the Re-pointing stonework at Ynysmeudwy Lock on the 2019 camp bottom five miles from Swansea Docks to Clydach mostly buried under urban development, Swansea Canal Society is concentrating on the middle six miles from Clydach to Godre’r-Graig - including Ynysmeudwy and Trebanos locks plus the buried lock at Pontardawe. But in the longer term there are plans for a diversionary route to be created, bypassing the missing lower length southwest of Clydach. This would combine sections of Length: 16 miles originally new canal, the Nant Locks: 36 originally Fendrod stream, the Date closed: 1928-1960 Fendrod Lake and The Swansea Canal, opened in 1798, descended steeply from Abercraf the River Tawe, and down the Tawe Valley, passing through 36 locks in the 16 miles to Swansea. end up in Swansea’s It was very busy with coal and iron traffic, even eastern docks. There Abercraf after it was taken over by the Great Western it would link to the Railway. However by the late 19th century Tennant Canal, which Upper lengths lost trade was in decline, the last loads were would also be reunder new road carried in 1931 and it closed in sections stored, creating a Glyn-Neath with the final length abandoned in route which has been Godre’r-Graig l na 1962. Much of the upper a dubbed the Swansea Ynysmeudwy C canal was buried under Pontardawe Bay Inland Waterath e N a new main road up way, connecting to Old route Trebanos Resolven the valley, while the Clydach the Neath Canal. obstructed Abergarwed lower sections were Completing the resProposed built on as Swansea toration of the Neath Aberdulais diversion expanded,but the six Canal (two long miles from Godre’rNeath sections have already Graig to Clydach been restored) would t Briton nan survived ultimately create a Ten al Ferry moderately Swansea 35-mile connected Can intact. local canal network. Sw an se a
Ca na l
Swansea Canal
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preview Cotswold and Lichfield Rebuilding Westfield Lock, our contribution to the next phase of the Cotswold restoration, and helping link up sections of the Lichfield Canal Cotswold Canals The Canal Camp work: Beginning rebuilding the part-demolished Westfield Lock on the Stroudwater Navigation, and reinstating Oldbury aqueduct / culvert under the lock head.
The wider picture: This will link up with the already completed Phase 1a length, bringing visiting boats onto 10 miles of canal up to Brimscombe Port. And it improves the case for funding the subsequent phases, eventually opening the entire through route.
Cotswold Canals
Martin Ludgate
Why is it important? This will be the major volunteer contribution to the £16m package to restore the Phase 1b section of the canal from Saul Junction to Stonehouse - and our work counts as part of the required ‘match funding’ to the £9m from the National Lottery Heritage Fund providing the majority of the funding. And the schedule of works (see Navvies 304) shows it due for completion by the end of 2023, so that the canal can open in 2024.
Wallbridge Lock on the Cotswold, now completed Length: 36 miles Locks: 56 Date closed: 1927-1946
The Cotswold Canals refers collectively to two canals being restored to recreate the through route from the River Thames to the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal (and so to the River Severn). The Stroudwater Navigation was opened in 1783 from the Severn up the River Frome valley to Stroud; then in 1789 the Thames & Severn Canal continued from Stroud through the Cotswold hills to the Thames at Inglesham. The Thames & Severn suffered from problems of water shortage, leakage, the difficult ground that the summit tunnel at Sapperton passed through, and being leased by a not-too-friendly railway company for much of the late 19th Century. A final attempt by Gloucestershire Council to repair it and encourage trade proved futile: most of the Thames & Severn shut in 1927, the rest in 1933, and the Stroudwater followed (despite IWA opposition) in 1954. Following closure the Thames & Severn passed to many local landowners, making restoration more complicated politically, but the Stroudwater remained in the hands of the original company - although the destruction of a mile of the route neat Whitminster when the M5 motorway was built in the 1970s hasn’t helped matters. Phase 1b: Saul to Stonehouse
Phase 1a: Stonehouse to Brimscombe
Phase 3: Brimscombe North Wilts Canal to Cerney to Swindon
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Phase 2: Inglesham to Cerney
Lichfield Canal The Canal Camp work: likely to be either on one of two lengths that Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust’s volunteers are currently working on. One is the length of canal from Fosseway Heath (where we helped to rebuild the collapsed towpath wall on the 2018 camp) to Falkland Road (where a new diversion channel is being built alongside the Lichfield Southern Bypass road). The other is at Gallows Reach, where a length of historic towpath wall is being restored. Martin Ludgate
Why is it important? The Fosseway Heath section is being reinstated initially as a local nature reserve, but ultimately as part of the restored canal. London WRG at Gallows Reach in early 2020 At Falkland Road the canal takes a diversion (to avoid a section that has been built on) and LHCRT volunteers have been busy working on creating a new length of channel alongside the road. It’s really important that local people can see some good progress on the ground on this highly-visible section of new canal for several reasons in addition to it being a practical step towards reopening the canal. To reinstate the next section east of Falkland Road will involve shoe-horning the diverted canal through a constricted corridor alongside the next section of the bypass to be built; tunnelling through a railway embankment; and crossing the access roads to new housing developments (whose developers haven’t always been keen to make provision for the canal). Good progress on the canal at Falkland Road, and at Gallows Reach (the next section further east) will bring pressure to bear on Length: 7 miles Locks: 30 Date closed: 1955 the authorities to support eventually To Fradley Diversions to be built to avoic Coventry linking all these secobstructions to restoration Canal tion of canal together. A3 8
Lichfield Canal
Huddlesford
LICHFIELD 61
Tamworth Road Locks
A4
To Anglesey Basin M To 6 ll Ogley Junction
ass
A51
A5
Fosseway Heath work site Wyrley & Essington Canal to Wolverhampton
Next part of bypass to be built
? HS2
Byp
To Coventry
Gallows Reach work site Heritage Lock 23 ‘pinch point’
New channel being built alongside Falkland Road section of bypass
The Lichfield Canal is the name given by canal restorers to the abandoned eastern six miles or so of the Wyrley & Essington Canal. The canal originally stretched from the Birmingham Canal Navigations Main Line in Wolverhampton to a junction with the Coventry Canal at Huddlesford, but this eastern length which included all 30 of the canal’s locks was closed in the 1950s to save the cost of maintaining the locks.
The wider picture: The next stage will be to connect these lengths to the restored Tamworth Road Locks, as a step towards reopening the canal through to Huddlesford Junction, bringing in boats from the Coventry Canal. And that would then mean that the restoration project was more than half way to opening the entire line from Huddlesford to Ogley Junction.
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preview Waveney and S&N And finally, we hope to be heading east to finish Geldeston Lock on the Broads, and west to Shropshire for the Shrewsbury & Newport Canals River Waveney The Canal Camp work: Completing the rebuilding of Geldeston Lock, at the head of the navigable tidal reaches of the Waveney.
The wider picture: Although there are no plans to reopen the upper Waveney to navigation (the treatment of the other two locks since closure would make that difficult), the aim is to preserve this sole survivor as a restored historic structure. The hope is that the rebuilt lock chamber can be used to dispay Albion, the last survivor of the cargo-carrying wherries (the historic sailing barges of the Broads), which was built to work on the Waveney and would have passed through here regularly in the early 20th Century.
Dave ‘Evvo’ Evans
Why is it important? With the other two locks on the Waveney having been replaced with sluices, that left Geldeston Lock as the last remaining (moderately) intact structure surviving from this littleknown Broadland navigation. In recent years it was becoming increasingly derelict and liable to collapse, so it was important to restore it to stop this happening. And having rebuilt one wall and part of the other during the 2017-19 Canal Camps, it’s important that we finish the job.
Working from a boat at the 2018 Geldeston camp
River Waveney
Length: 4 miles Locks: 3
Date closed: 1934
The River Waveney above Beccles was made navigable as long ago as 1670, when the creation of the River Waveney Navigation saw three locks built to allow boats to continue from the tidal reaches (which were already in use between Breydon Water and Beccles), on up to Bungay. These lower lengths (plus their links to Lowestoft and the upper Yare) still form part of the Broads; however the length above Geldeston fell out of use and closed in 1934. Since then the upper two locks have been replaced with water control sluices, while Geldeston Lock survived intact but increasingly derelict. Ellingham Lock Unnavigable and locks abandoned above Geldeston Bungay
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Wainford Lock
Work site: Geldeston Lock
Geldeston Navigable up Lock to Geldeston
Tidal river to Breydon Water and Great Yarmouth
Beccles
Shrewsbury & Newport Canals The Canal Camp work: Likely to be working either on the restoration of Berwick Tunnel’s portals and approaches, or at Wappenshall Junction, where the Shrewsbury Canal meets the Newport Canal, and where Shrewsbury & Newport Canals Trust is working to re-water the canal basins at the junction, and to restore the historic canal warehouses.
Bernie Jones
Why is it important? Berwick Tunnel is a surviving historic structure on a length of canal which SNCT believes could be a showpiece restored section. The original towpath is being reinstated on the approaches to the tunnel, and at the western end a second path will be created on the opposite side, with the aim of creating a circular Wappenshall warehouse and preparing to line basin walk involving both paths. And at Wappenshall, the plan is to establish a canal centre, exhibition and meeting room in the warehouses, with historic boats on show in the basins. Given their proximity to Shrewsbury and Telford towns respectively, both the tunnel end walk and the canal centre have good potential to generate publicity and support for the canal, enabling further restoration work. The wider picture: In the medium term SNCT aims to open a longer length of canal linking Berwick Tunnel with the popular nearby Attingham Park which could support a trip-boat operation and really raise the restoration’s profile. Elsewhere on the route, the Trust ha also carried out work between Forton and Newport. And ultimately its goal is to link all these projects into a fully restored navigable route from Norbury Junction to Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury & Newport Canals
Length: 25 miles Locks: 25 Date closed: 1944
1 A4
The Shrewsbury Canal, opened in 1979, was 17 miles long with 11 locks and one inclined plane boat lift. It linked Shrewsbury to Trench where it connected to the existing Shropshire tub-boat canals, and was originally built for trains of small tub-boats about 20ft by 6ft (four at a time in the 81ft long locks, or singly on the inclined plane). In 1835 it was connected to the rest of the Midlands Shropshire Union waterways network by the opening of the ‘Newport Canal’ - the Newport Arm to Ellesmere Port which branched off the Shropshire Union Canal’s main line at Norbury Junction and ran for 10 miles and 23 locks (built to take standard narrow boats around Norbury 70ft by 7ft) via Newport to Wappenshall Junction where it met the Junction Shrewsbury Canal. The two locks between Wappenshall and Shrewsbury were widened so that standard narrow boats could To Autherley work through to Shrewsbury Wappenshall (and will be able to use the work site Eyton Locks Newport restored route). Both canals (widened 1830s) became part of the Berwick Tunnel Inclined Shropshire Union work sites Plane system, and later Trench Locks the LMS (never widened) Former Shropshire A5 Railway, Shrewsbury Trench tub-boat canals (not which proposed for restoration) closed them in 1944.
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REstoration feature For a change of scenery, we’re taking a look at a set of old canals dating back to Going Internazionale... “The restoration of the historic canals of Milan has stalled”, I said gloomily in a an otherwise upbeat piece about waterway restoration in mainland Europe which formed a small part of my editorial column in Navvies 303. Well if you’re wondering what that chomping noise is that you can hear... yes, it’s the familiar sound of the Navvies editor
eating his words again... My piece in Navvies 303 was prompted by the arrival of the autumn issue of World Wide Waterways, the magazine of Inland Waterways International (IWI), with a whole swathe of good news stories about canals reopening (or even new ones being created) in France, Finland, Serbia and the Netherlands. But one scheme that didn’t appear to be making any progress was the plan to
Locarno Lake Maggiore
The Navigli of Milan
Lake Como
and connections Lecco da r Ad Rive
Como One new lock built on River Ticino, others will need to be restored ino Tic er Riv
4 2
Sections shown in red have been culverted but are proposed for restoration
Naviglio di Paderno built to bypass rapids on River Adda. Proposed for restoration
Trezzo sull’Adda
Tornavento de an Gr ) lio le vig gab Na avi (n ino Tic able) er Riv navig (un
Milan
Darsena basin
iglio Nav
Pavia
Two locks restored at Milan end
ese Pav
Naviglio Bereguardo (not proposed for restoration)
Cercia Interna (inner ring canal)
Riv (un er Add nav a iga ble )
Navigable to the Adriatic
6 River Po
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Naviglio Martesana proposed for restoration
The
Navigli
of
Milan
Leonardo da Vinci’s time - which might just have a bright future ahead of them... reopen some of the mediaeval waterways which once linked Milan, the River Po, and the great lakes reaching up to the border with Switzerland. Well, six months on and the spring issue of the same magazine has hit the doormat and - guess what? - there’s good news on the Milan system. So why not run a rather different Navvies restoration feature?
History: building the Navigli
was more to bring water supplies to the city than for cargo, but once completed in 1258 it wasn’t long before it was busy with boats carrying goods between Lake Maggiore and a basin on the edge of Milan called the Darsena. From 1386 it carried the stone for the famous cathedral. To get it right to where it was needed in the city centre, boats continued from the Darsena basin along a new connecting link to the city’s defensive moat, most of which was enlarged and made navigable as the Cerchia Interna (‘inner ring’). As this was at a higher level than the Naviglio Grande, temporary dams were inserted and removed to adjust water levels to enable boats to get between them. This time-consuming process was later replaced by two movable water control structures a short distance apart - and bingo, the canal lock had been invented! OK, almost certainly reinvented - there are reckoned to have already been earlier ones in the Far East and probably elsewhere in Europe too. But this one, known as Viarenna, was an early one. Next came the 19km Naviglio di
Milan municipal photographic archive
The story begins in the 12th Century with Milan at a disadvantage compared to most major European cities: it wasn’t accessible by water. Nearly everywhere else of any decent size was on the coast, on a river, or on a lake. But about 25-30km to the west of Milan, the River Ticino flowed southwards on its way down from Lake Maggiore (aka Lake Locarno). And a similar distance to the east was the River Adda, also flowing southwards from Lake Como. Some 40-50km south of Milan, both of these rivers fed into the River Po, which led all the way east to reach the Adriatic Sea not far south of the Venice lagoon. The Navigli were a series of canals which developed over several centuries, linking Milan to both of these rivers, and creating a regional navigable network. First came the Naviglio Grande, which ran south eastwards for 31km from the River Ticino near Tornavento to Milan. Begun as early as 1177, its original purpose The successor to the early Viarenna Lock: now gone, but reinstatement proposed
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Paolo Monti, Creative Commons licence
much so that it took 200 years from the start of construction in the late 16th Century before a bypass canal, the Naviglio di Paderna, was finally completed all of 3km long, with six locks. Lastly the Naviglio Pavese removed the need for the inconvenient overland transhipment between the Bereguardo and the River Ticino by bypassing the Bereguardo enIn 1970 gravel barges were still unloading at the Darsena basin... tirely. Opened in 1819, it began at Bereguardo, equipped with 18 primitive flashthe Darsena basin in Milan, alongside the locks consisting of a single set of gates (later start of the Naviglio Grande, and descended replaced by 12 conventional locks) and com- via nine single locks and three staircase pairs pleted in 1470. It linked the Naviglio Grande in 33km to Pavia, where it joined a navigable to Bereguardo, not far from the limit of navilength of the Ticino near its confluence with gation for boats coming up the Ticino river, the Po. Thus it finally completed the chain of from which goods (and sometimes small boats) navigable waterways from the River Po to were transhipped by land, making a commu- Milan, Lake Maggiore, and Lake Como. nication (albeit a not terribly convenient one) from Milan to the Po and the sea. History: decline and closure Meanwhile to the east of Milan, the 38km Naviglio Martesana opened in 1457 Unsurprisingly, once it had been bypassed linking Milan to the River Adda at Trezzo the Naviglio de Bereguardo didn’t last long sull’Adda. It too was largely for irrigation, but before closing, but the rest of the network navigation was permitted initially on two survived into the 20th Century. days a week, and locks were built to lower it The system was split in the early 1930s from the level of the river to the outskirts of as a result of Milan’s planners taking the Milan. It too was linked by locks to the view that the inner ring was a barrier to Cerche Interna circuit, and therefore to the urban development and a health hazard. It canals on the west side of the city. And it’s was closed and culverted, breaking the link where Leonardo da Vinci got involved: albetween the Naviglio Martesana to the east though it’s not true (as sometimes claimed) and the Grande and Pavese on the west side. that he invented the canal lock, he was Around the same time the Paderno also appointed as Ducal Engineer from 1482, closed, cutting off Lake Como from the studied the hydraulic engineering of the Martesana, which lasted until 1958 before it existing Navigli, and developed technical too shut. That left just the Pavese, which improvements for the Martesana locks. closed to navigation in the 1960s, and the Above Martesana, a steep and fastoldest of them all, the Naviglio Grande, flowing length of the River Adda prevented which carried its last boatload of sand to the access to Lake Como, and bypassing it was Darsena basin in 1979. to prove tricky as a result of the steep But crucially, the Martesana, Grande change of level and unstable ground. So and Pavese were all retained for water supply.
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Restoration: the back-story
But then it all came to a bit of a standstill. The city decided that a cosmetic uncovering of parts of the inner ring was more affordable than reopening to navigation, reopening of the Pavese stopped after two locks, and there didn’t seem to be a lot going on. Until now...
Martin Ludgate
Pretty much as the Naviglio Grande was carrying its final cargoes, there were proposals to revive the network for leisure or heritage reasons. In 1983 a tour by the Inland Waterways Association’s International Committee (a forerunner of IWI) met architect and canal campaigner Empio Malara, who was Restoration: where are we at? pushing for the restoration of the Viarenna lock (a replacement of the original one which linked As already mentioned the two locks at the the Naviglio Grande to the inner ring) as a Milan end of the Naviglio Pavese are restored and in working order, and you can charter a historic feature. He founded an organisation called the Amici dei Navigli (‘Friends of the boat that passes through them, but there are Canals’) which supported the reopening of 13 more locks to restore between there and the Ticino, so it’s only possible to navigate a both the Naviglio Grande and Naviglio Pavese, recreating the route from Lake Maggiore down short distance outside the city, although the to the Ticino - and achieving what seems fo channel is intact and in water. The Naviglio be the ‘Holy Grail’ of Italian canal restoration: Grande doesn’t have any locks except right navigation from Venice to the Alps. at its western end, and has been maintained Another group, Riaprire i Navigli (‘Refor water supply, so navigation is possible for store the Canals’) takes an even broader rather further from Milan, almost to the view: it sees its ultimate objective as reopen- upper River Ticino. The link to Lake Maggiore ing the complete network, including the via a length of the river will require the restoMartesana, the Paderno, and the connection ration / construction of several locks to bypass through Milan via the inner ring. weirs on the river, in addition to the one new lock already built as mentioned earlier. On the practical level, the first two locks There has yet to be any restoration for at the Milan end of the Naviglio Pavese navigation on the Martesana but it too is in Conchetta and Fallata locks - were restored water, the towpath has been opened us a and opened to navigation, while the partly infilled Darsena basin was re-excavated, and a cycleway / footpath (as have the towpaths of the Pavese and Grande) and one of the new lock was built by a hydroelectric dam on watermills alongside the Martesana locks has the upper River Ticino near Lake Maggiore. Plans were developed for reinstating the inner ring, with considerable sums of money put forward by the city council. And in a complete turnaround from the 1930s, canals which were hidden away because they were seen as a health hazard and getting in the way of urban planning are now seen as highly beneficial to the city and its people - the area around the Darsena is now a trendy ‘canal ...but today the restored basin is at the heart of a popular ‘canal quarter’ quarter’.
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been restored. There hasn’t been any work done on the Paderno either, but again it’s basically intact and a study has shown restoration to be feasible. In the worst condition by far is the Cerchia Interna, the inner ring in Milan, which was culverted in the 1930s with little to be seen of it. The innermost length of the Martesana leading to the inner ring hasn’t fared much better.
Restoration: what next?
Martin Ludgate
Until recently the answer might have been “we don’t know” or “not a lot, by the look of it”. But just recently things have been looking up. In December 2020 Milan’s mayor Beppe Sala revived interest in the scheme to reopen the city’s canals including the section of the inner ring linking the Naviglio Martesana to the Darsena basin. Pointing out that recreating a fully navigable 8km through route that’s largely disappeared wouldn’t be cheap at around •500m, he confirmed that the city had put in requests for support from the Italian Government’s Covid recovery fund and also from EU funds. We won’t know if the bids have been Naviglio Pavese: restored lock and trip-boat at successful until June 2021, and until then no the Milan end and (below) staircase locks await work can take place. But if the bids do get restoration at the far end, River Ticino beyond approved, that would complete the restoration of the most difficult length by far of the entire network. And the city would be keen to complete it by 2026, when it is due to host the Winter Olympics.
If •500m can be secured to reinstate 8km of missing city waterway, opening up the rest of the system should be possible for a lot less. The Grande is already pretty much navigable; the Pavese, the Martesana and the Paderno are mainly in water with just the locks needing restoring, then there’s just the connecting lengths of the Ticino and Adda rivers to return to navigation, and we’ll be cruising from the Po to Milan - and from Venice to the Alps. Martin Ludgate For those interested in finding out more, try the Amici dei Navigli and Riaprire i Navigli websites, IWI’s World Wide Waterways magazine and Charles Hadfield’s book World Canals. For those not interested: don’t worry, we’ll be back to British canals in the next issue!
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Yorick39, Creative Commons licence
Restoration: and then what?
restoration
Whisky!
Your chance to buy one of the limited number of bottles of WRG 50th anniversary whisky - and contribute towards our next 50 years of success RESTORATION: the WRG whisky aged for 10 years to celebrate 50! The wait is over… WRG’s limited edition, private cask, single malt Islay Scotch whisky is bottled and ready to go! Matured in a Rivesaltes Hoghead Cask, WRG’s ‘Restoration’ whisky has been bottled at 10 years old at a cask strength of 62.7%. The whisky comes from Bruichladdich Distillery, a self-styled progressive Hebridean Distiller, that is not only dedicated to producing world-class whisky but doing it in the most sustainable way they can. So how did WRG come to have a cask of whisky? Apparently, it’s all the WRG Chairman’s fault… 10 years ago Mike and Jude Palmer invited WRG Director Harry Watts along on their now annual pilgrimage to Islay, ‘Scotland’s whisky island’. Following his trip to Islay, Harry struck upon an idea to buy a cask of whisky and donate it to WRG. In true WRG style, the donation was made in humour, with Harry knowing it would cause one big headache 10 years later, for WRG’s 50th birthday. He hoped that instead of selling the cask back to the distillery WRG would think big and decide to create a one-off WRG whisky to raise funds for WRG. There are only 278 bottles of this lovingly crafted cask strength whisky available. Each bottle has been individually numbered 1-278. The official launch of the whisky pre-sales was on Tuesday 23rd February and we have already sold 45% of bottles. If you want to buy one of the remaining bottles, now’s your chance: just fill in the form below and send it off with your cheque. Bottles will be dispatched in May. All funds raised from the sale of the whisky will go straight back into WRG so we can continue offering a varied and wide range of canal restoration activities - making sure the spirit of WRG continues on into the future.
WRG Restoration Whisky Order Form Name
Address
Email I confirm I am over 18
Phone (tick box to confirm)
Cheques for £95 per bottle should be made payable to Inland Waterways Association. Please send form and cheque to: Jenny Morris, WRG Whisky, Island House, Moor Road, Chesham, HP5 1WA.
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a canal as an ‘eco-highway’? David Barnes of the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal has a new take on making the case for restoration - other canal societies might be interested... An Eco-highway? What’s the idea? In the early days of waterway restoration, the objectives at least were straightforward. Basically a canal restoration society worked to reopen an abandoned canal for navigation. Often by doing so they also improved the local wildlife habitats, or provided a pleasant place for local people to enjoy, and that was great. But primarily they raised the funds and provided the labour so that boats could come back. In modern times it’s rather different. Not only are there statutory conditions to satisfy regarding other outputs from canal restoration besides navigation (the latest being the Biodiversity Net Gain rules as covered several times in Navvies); but for today’s more complex restorations on more badly-obstructed waterways it’s necessary to raise funding from grants from external sources. And also to get permission to dig up whatever’s been built on the canal line since it was filled in. So there’s a need to convince major funders and local authorities to support the scheme. And navigation isn’t often near the top of their list of objectives. So the canal restoration movement has been getting more adept at making common ground with other interests, and considering other benefits not directly related to opening a canal for boats. One example is the IWA ‘Waterways in Progress’ report and grants, which concentrated on the short-term local gains in many areas which canals can achieve right from the start - but which also help to build support and make progress towards the long-term goal of reopening. David Barnes of the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal Society has taken a different approach: regarding the entire canal as an ‘EcoHighway’. This article was written for MBBCS’s quarterly magazine, but is reproduced here, largely for the benefit of other canal societies who might be inspired to try the same approach on their own waterways - substituting their own local details as appropriate...
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The Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal as an ‘Eco-Highway’ The Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal was once a fully functioning waterway and our aim is to restore it. In the meantime the route of the canal has a range of ecological and environmental resources that could be better utilised for their intrinsic value, as a part of a whole eco-subsystem and for the wider benefit of people; at least 300,000 people are estimated to live within 5 miles of the canal. This paper sets out initial ideas for how this concept could be promoted for the benefit of:
· · ·
People’s enjoyment of the canal environment resource Improved wildlife habitats Increased awareness of the aim to restore the canal.
The MB&BC Landscape The route of the MB&BC connects several greenspaces, habitats and corridors including: Elton Reservoir Ringley Wood Giant’s Seat Wood Prestwich Forest Park Rotary Way
Nob End Nature Reserve Moses Gate Country Park Darcy Lever Gravel Pits Salford Trail Irwell Valley Sculpture Trail
The current development plans for the Crescent in Salford also include a linear park on the course of the canal. There is also a multitude of smaller, often informal, greenspaces along the route of the canal.
Policy Background There is an increasingly broad set of policies that can influence the development of the canal and which, in turn, the canal as an EcoHighway can help promote and implement. The Greater Manchester Combined Authority has published a 5-year Environ-
ment Plan (2019-2024). This has five challenges, including ‘The Natural Environment’; in which one priority is ‘increasing engagement with our natural environment.’ Sustrans has developed a model for ‘Greenways’ which provide for connectivity between greenspaces, balancing the needs of wildlife, people and the environment. More focused linear pathways have been developed, for example the Chet Valley B-line in Norfolk which is a ‘Pollinator Corridor’. A key factor in these connectivity modes is the concept of biodiversity. The UN Convention on Biological Diversity outlines an ambitious vision: ‘By 2050, biodiversity is valued, conserved, restored and wisely used, maintaining ecosystem services, sustaining a healthy planet and delivering benefits essential for all people.’ In 2011 DEFRA produced Biodiversity 2020: A strategy for England’s wildlife and ecosystem services. It set out the following priorities:
· · · ·
A more integrated large-scale approach to conservation on land and at sea Putting people at the heart of biodiversity policy Reducing environmental pressures Improving our knowledge.
In 2016, Natural England published Conservation 21 – Natural England’s Conservation Strategy for the 21st Century which set out three guiding principles:
· · ·
Creating resilient landscapes and seas Putting people at the heart of the environment Growing natural capital.
The UK Government’s 25-year Environment Plan (2019) set out the following goals:
· · · · · · · · · ·
Clean air Clean and plentiful water Thriving plants and wildlife Reducing the risks of harm from environmental hazards Using resources from nature more sustainably and efficiently Enhancing beauty, heritage, engagement with the natural environment Mitigating and adapting to climate change Minimising waste Managing exposure to chemicals Enhancing biosecurity.
The plan also said that ‘To implement our international commitments at home we will publish a new strategy for nature, building on our current strategy, Biodiversity 2020. This will coordinate our action in England with that of external nature conservation and academic partners, as well as farmers and land managers. We will ensure the strategy joins up with other plans and strategies, including on the marine environment, pollinators and peatland.’ Forestry England has significant landholdings and land in management along the route of the canal. A Greater Manchester Forest Plan has been consulted upon in September 2020. It encompasses 13 woodlands in Greater Manchester including Waterdale, Drinkwater and Forest Bank, all adjacent to the canal. Typically a forest plan would cover the following issues:
· · · ·
Provide descriptions of the woodlands to show what they are like now Explain the process for deciding what is best for the woodlands’ long-term future Show the intention for what the woodlands will look like in the future Detail Forestry England’s management proposals, for the first ten years to enable approval from the statutory regulators
Forestry England works in partnership with many stakeholders and clearly this form of planning may assist in formulating the practical impact of any eco-highway. In 2019 Natural England published Building Partnerships for Nature’s Recovery: Natural England Action Plan which is intended to build upon the 25 YEP and states that “Our mission is to build partnerships to drive nature recovery”. And they set out the four key things which will focus their efforts to achieve this:
· · · ·
Greener farming and fisheries – supporting those who manage land and sea to operate in harmony with the environment Sustainable development – creating great places for people to live and work Connecting people with nature - promoting health and wellbeing through the great outdoors. Resilient landscapes and seas – protecting and restoring wildlife and natural beauty for future generations.
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canals for people and wildlife. C&RT is looking at refreshing the strategy beyond 2020. In 2015 Sport England and Public Health England published a policy document, Active Design which sets out ten design principles many of which are highly relevant to the potential of a MB&BC EcoHighway:
· · · · · · · · · ·
Activity for all Walkable communities Connected walking and cycling routes Co-location of community facilities, Network of multifunctional open spaces High quality streets and spaces appropriate infrastructure active buildings management, maintenance, monitoring and evaluation activity promotion and local champions.
Martin Ludgate
At the Natural Capital Conference in Manchester in February 2020, Tony Juniper stated that the most important initiative is to create Nature Recovery Networks. So, there is a strong emphasis on partnership. MB&BCS has been given partner status with the Nature Recovery Network Delivery Partnership and is looking forward to this providing mutual benefit for the canal, the people who use it and the wildlife we share it with. The Canal & River Trust’s Water Resources Strategy for 2015-20 which is mainly about the very important issue of protecting and promoting water resources, especially in the context of the Water Act 2003. Therefore it has limited content in respect of concerns such as the canal environment beyond the water, the engagement of people or the promotion of the benefits of
Eco-Highway of the future? The Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal in the Irwell valley
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What does this mean for the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal?
canal and neighbouring areas are consulted on the shape and function of the Eco-Highway.
It is logical that the owner of the canal should be focused on its prime resource, namely water. But this is clearly going to mean it will prioritise canals with water in them and the connectivity of that resource. The MB&BC is at an early stage of recovery so the Society will continue to work very closely with the C&RT as the prime partner for restoration. However, pending further developments on restoration and in anticipation of the canal environment when fully restored being an increasingly valuable resource, it is also important to recognise and take advantage of the unique aspects of the canal route:
·
· ·
· · · · ·
· · ·
The canal crosses three local authority areas, Salford, Bolton and Bury The canal is a linear route, and such routes are valuable for wildlife and people, enabling networks of communities The canal already has several designated wildlife sites The Society is strong on working in partnership with many interested authorities, organisations, people and local communities The Society has a clear strategy and purpose
Thus the canal and its partner agencies are ideally placed to fulfil the purpose of a Nature Recovery Network. The Defra discussion paper on NRNs says, ‘The concept for the Nature Recovery Network is simple. Our existing protected sites constitute our best areas for wildlife and provide many other economic and social benefits. They should form the core of any future network. However, for nature to recover we have also to look beyond protected sites and take action to extend and link our existing sites, both to support wildlife and to recover the range of economic and social benefits that nature provides.’ The route of the canal is ideal for the practical realisation of this concept.
Potential elements in developing the canal as an Eco-Highway The elements set out here are for illustrative purposes and it will be fundamental to the development of the project that local people and users throughout the full length of the
· ·
Three ‘Blue Green Activity Centres’; one in each local authority area with facilities for outdoor and water-based activities, community meeting room and café, accessible for all generations and groups. For Bolton, an activity centre at Hall Lane could fulfil this purpose. Energy centres for re-charging electric vehicles and transfer of water and wind energy. Study resources – the vision would be for the Eco-Highway to be a citizen research-led beacon facility for the study of the benefits of wildlife, green exercise, water resource knowledge, healthy food and urban planning. Local nature reserves enhanced and developed. Community allotments and orchards. Promoting active travel neighbourhoods along the route of the canal. Cycle hire and cycle route enhancement. Connect with schools along the EcoHighway to create young eco-champions.
Fundamental Principles The development and operation of the EcoHighway would be underpinned by the following principles:
· · · · ·
Sustainability - so that it is built into the full restoration of the canal and is part of an integrated system of water, environmental, wellbeing and travel resources Partnership – local people, users and stakeholders will be central to the development and operation of the Eco-Highway. An Eco-Highway Council would be established to facilitate this partnership Promoting bio-diversity net gain Reconciliation ecology - which seeks to achieve a balance between the promotion of wildlife habitats (including aiming for bio-diversity net gain) and the wellbeing of people. Evidence-based with ongoing commitment to citizen research.
These principles would be used to road test and/or respond to any applications for developments along the route of the Eco-Highway. David Barnes
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Progress on the S&N After taking advantage of the enforced lockdown break in work to get on with some planning, SNCT are back up and running at Wappenshall Basin Shrewsbury & Newport Canals
Bernie Jones
Obviously, we have had very little activity on the ground, due to you-know-what. However, it has provided the Shrewsbury & Newport Canals Trust with time to do some planning. This has focussed on three main areas – Wappenshall Wharf, Berwick Tunnel Approaches and Highways England Grants. Wappenshall Wharf: it was most frustrating having to cease work early in January, because our great team of volunteers had managed to build half of the 42m retaining wall at the northern edge of the east basin and the remainder would have been completed by now. So, we have planned how we are going to get the remainder of the spoil out of the basin without leaving our JCB marooned in it. This will then permit the rest of the 5m x 2.5m concrete basin floor slabs to be cast and the expansion joints fitted. We then need to finish the retaining wall brick courses to match the remaining basin perimeter, fit the escape ladders and then add the water! Berwick Tunnel Approaches: as many WRGies will know, as they helped move this section’s restoration forward significantly with a couple of weekend camps, we have improved the south eastern tunnel approach a lot more until lockdown stopped work. However, we have now done all the paperwork necessary to progress the rebuilding of the Donkey Shed / Lengthsman’s Hut and the portal wall at the north western portal. This has been forwarded to the Canal & River Trust (as they own the Berwick Tunnel and its approaches) for approval so we can hit the ground running when current restrictions permit. Weekend camp, anyone? Highways England Grants: I’m sure the good news from Cotswold Canal Trust about their £4m grant from Highways England (HE) will be known well by now. [In case it isn’t: they got 4 million quid from an HE fund of public money set up specifically for remediation / mitigation of damage to the environment caused as a result of national road construction work over the years, and it has mainly been spent on reinstating the A38 crossing of the Stroudwater Navigation to replace the old bridge and adjacent canal length which were destroyed when the M5 motorway was built in the 1970s] So, we have done a lot of work to learn how SNCT might obtain grants to get our canal across both the A5 dual carriageway at Berwick and the A41 Trunk Road in Newport. This is a massive administrative task and has kept a small team of us from going stir crazy during lockdown. There are no guarantees we will get either or both of these grants, but we will be giving it everything to ensure that we do! Stop press: [update and pics received as we went to print] Because we are working to CDM Regulations and have done our Risk Assessment to be Covid Removing shuttering from top section of Wappenshall basin wall compliant, SNCT have man-
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Steve McClelland
Bernie Jones
aged some limited, socially distanced work parties in the past few weeks. In the first picture (opposite page) the progression of our retaining wall in the East Basin at Wappenshall had the formwork removed from the last top section we managed to pour before lockdown. The wall has been formed in 3 sections – the first was its base (complete with reinforcing rebar of course), then the main wall section and, lastly, the short, thinner top section that will take 4 courses of bricks, finishing off with bull-nosed Setting up reinforcing for the bend into the existing wall ones to match the remainder of the basin walls. Anyone know where we can get some blue and orange bull-nosed imperial sized bricks? They are about as rare as hen’s teeth we are told. Second pic (above right) shows the intricate ‘jigsaw’ of re-bar reinforcement that blends a 135-degree bend into the existing stonework wall, which, just to make things interesting, is laid back by 15 degrees towards its top! We luckily had William Jones on hand to work out how this was done. His working life involved doing this sort of thing – luckily for us! This was then filled with concrete mixed by hand and wheelbarrowed into place. I think we used 26 wheelbarrow loads taken about 60m each time. Not bad for a team of six in just one day – almost as good as WRGies! Finally (left) is a still from a drone video of the basin, taken by member Steve McClelland. The 42m wall is now almost half completed. The twenty 5m x 2.5m reinforced concrete slabs can be clearly seen too. Once we have cleared the remainder of the spoil there’s only another 70 to do! We’ll resort to a concrete pump for these I think. Newport based members have been taking their daily exercise on a rota basis to scrub bash the dry bed section cleared by WRG at Meretown. In addition, some of our Shrewsbury members have been doing a great job by taking their daily exercise by socially distancing and bashing the early scrub that has tried to come back at the approaches to the Berwick Tunnel. There has also been some exciting progress undertaken by the National Trust on the section of our canal that runs through their Attingham Park Estate. But more of this when we have some photos to show! Aerial view of progress on the basin wall and base slabs Bernie Jones
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Progress Buckingham The Cosgrove Bridge 1 project nears completion, with bridge construction finished, the dam and piling removed, and the farm crossing next to go... Buckingham Canal
BCS
Cosgrove Bridge 1 and surrounding length: We keep overusing the word ‘milestone’ but I don’t care. This IS another milestone in that we (Buckingham Canal Society) have built the missing Bridge No 1 (the first bridge from the junction with the Grand Union Main Line at Cosgrove), inserted stop-planks, removed the piling across the canal which was holding back the earth dam, and now we have even removed the earth dam. By the way it was earth, and clay, and lumps of stone, and rubble, and tree roots and so on and so forth. There is still some more to come out as part of the dredging, but “there ain’t no stopping us now!” Covid-19 has reduced our scope and volunteer numbers but we have been managing our work at Cosgrove within the Covid compliance framework, with Canal & River Trust reviews to allow us to continue the works within the Government’s guidelines. The previous dredgings have been taken out of the hopper and deposited behind the Nicospan channel edging at ‘Cosgrove Cow ‘Water under the bridge’ - the dam and piling are gone Corner’ (where the cows have broken down the bank) by the junction of the Buckingham Canal and the Grand Union Main Line. We are rebuilding the bank for CRT and hence we are able to deposit our dredgings with the relevant permits and without cost to us, whilst being of benefit to all canal users. We will have fenced the muddy bit off in March to stop the silly cows wading into the squidgy mud and getting stuck. Meanwhile the towpath beyond Bridge 1 is starting to be re-formed where the temporary farm crossing was located. A long time ago this was the most significant breach of the canal between Cosgrove and the A5 crossing, probably caused by a tree fall. That’s why this was the chosen location for the temporary crossing. The field access to Cosgrove Hall has now been closed off and re-fenced. Part of this temporary works remediation also includes building a splash wall to separate the wet clay on the channel side from the dry toe of the banks supporting the towpath. This is a concrete foundatio with 9in wide concrete blocks and 11 courses of bricks that will all be buried inside the towpath underneath the walking surface. As I write this, the task is nearing its completion and should be done by the time you read this. Work will then progress to removing the infill under the temporary farm crossing, subject to Government Covid advice etc. Once the channel is clear, we will focus on the towpath bankside leaks over the spring and summer, as well as raising the bund at the farm crossing to allow for the raised water levels. Discussions are onvoing to reduce the number of farm crossings and remove each in turn in the not-too-distant future. Terry Cavender
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ProgressWendover & Gipping Planning a footbridge at Baylham on the Gipping, and looking to start removing the historic rubbish infill from a length of the Wendover Arm River Gipping
RGT
River Gipping Trust volunteers are now back working along the river, in maximum groups of six with two or three groups at different locations. The first week back saw a general clean up and tidy up after the winter floods. The Trust now have all the necessary planning and Environmental Agency permits approved allowing Trust volunteers to start restoration work on the 230-year-old brick bridge abutments at Baylham. If the abutment restoration work goes according to plan the Trust plan to order all the footbridge materials in May for delivery in July, with an anticipated opening date in August or September. Once open, it will be possible to walk alongside the river upstream of Baylham for the first time in 100 years allowing unseen north-facing views of the magnificent historic Grade II listed Baylham water Mill and Mill house, parts of which are 16th century. It is the only complete water mill on the Gipping. Ian Petchey River Gipping Trust Restoration Manager Clearing debris from Baylham Mill sluice gates rial (in the infilled length just past the limit of navigation) off site, has been working hard. We April is the earliest that we are likely to are working with CRT and sub-contractors to resume on site, depending on the Covid-19 finalise the various agreements and contracts vaccination programme and when our volun- for the first Trial phase. Herts County Council/ teers feel comfortable with being on site. Dacorum Planning advised that the work can Health & Safety: To make handling be carried out under ‘Permitted development’, and laying easier with less heavy lifting, we however we may need advice from the Highare designing a Bentomat handling excavator ways Department for road access issues. attachment that will place an uncut roll Early March was set as a target start directly along the canal bank at 45 degrees. date for the trial. For the bulk removal, the The required stress calculations have been Group are evaluating proposals from several done, and where required, the design has major companies. Based on their advice we been modified. We have a contracting comwill be making some more small excavations pany prepared to manufacture the rig, as to take samples for analysis as some parts of and when signed off for safety. A 13-tonne the tip will be ‘non-hazardous’, and can go a excavator will be required and we are looking short distance straight to landfill. Some areas for a suitable (cheap/scrap!) bucket so that are known to contain a small, local, amount the lifting bars etc. that connect to an excava- of bonded asbestos and we need to establish tor can be cut off and welded to the rig. and segregate this in the correct manner. Removing the Historic refuse tip: [Stop press: the trial excavation has been Our Project group, set up to get the tip matecompleted: more next time]
Grand Union Wendover Arm
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Progress Chesterfield Not so much a restoration progress report, more the result of an exchange of emails with George Rogers that’s so bizzarre that we had to share it... Chesterfield Canal and HS2: instalment 57... The good news on the Chesterfield Canal is that HS2 Ltd, the company in charge of building the new high speed railway line, have dropped their objections to the Chesterfield Canal Trust’s planning application to restore the remaining mile and a half of unrestored canal that falls within the Chesterfield Borough Council area. And that’s particularly good news because in the Budget on 3 March the Government confirmed £25.2m of funding for Staveley under the Towns Fund regeneration programme. And the Canal Trust is provisionally allocated something approaching £6m of this money to go towards the almost £11m cost of restoring this length of canal - much of which is the cost of rebuilding the Puddle Bank, a massive earthwork embankment across the Doe Lea Valley. All being well, it will be restored between now and 2014. The length of canal runs from Staveley (where the canal currently comes to an end a little way below the new Staveley Town Lock) to just short of Renishaw. When added to the already restored Chesterfield to Staveley length it will create about a seven-mile isolated restored length. Perhaps more importantly it will reduce the length of the ‘missing link’ derelict section in between the isolated length and the main 32-mile Norwood Tunnel - West Stockwith navigable length to only about seven miles. OK, they’re seven difficult miles with a collapsed tunnel, a built-on section in Killamarsh requiring a bypass with new lock flights, a flight of 13 derelict staircase locks and some mining subsidence. But elsewhere, there’s a more straightforwards section running north from Renishaw that’s already being restored thanks to £50,000 from the Inland Waterways Association’s Waterways in Progress fund. But why did HS2 object to the planning application in the first place? Navvies contacted CCT’s development manager (and long-serving WRG volunteer) George Rogers for the story. It’s a complicated one, and it goes back nine years to 2012... As originally planned, it looked like HS2 might be the canal restoration’s nemesis. A five mile length of HS2 from near Staveley to Killamarsh looked set to obliterate much of the canal’s route, destroying much good work already done - and resulting in the loss of a multi-million pound Lottery bid for canal restoration which had had a good chance of success. But then, several years later, HS2 had a re-think about how it would serve Sheffield (in effect, via a loop off tne new railway running on conventional lines, rather than directly by the new main line) and that shifted its route several miles to the east. This was obviously good news for the canal as it would take it away from the StaveleyKillamarsh length of canal. There were just two remaining issues: one involving how HS2 would cross the canal at Norwood Tunnel; the other concerning an HS2 maintenance depot at Staveley, served by a siding off the main line which would cross the canal using (or on or near the site of) an existing (but ‘mothballed’ out of use) freight railway track - whose existence was New Staveley Town Lock - but how many more are needed?
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the reason by the Staveley Town Lock had been built, as there wasn’t sufficient navigable headroom under the railway without lowering the canal. (And a second new lock would be needed to bring the canal back up to the original level on the far side of the railway.) There was no reason to believe that the new siding couldn’t use the existing bridge (or a replacement at the same height) - but HS2 Ltd seemed coy about providing any details. Mainly, it seems, because they didn’t have any, because they hadn’t done the detailed planning on the north eastern branch of the line yet. This might not have been much of an issue, but with the possibility of major restoration funding from the Towns Fund, the funders would want some surety of knowledge that the canal wouldn’t be compromised by HS2. And wth the north eastern branch currently on hold, HS2 Ltd weren’t going to put anything in writing, or even consider the Chesterfield Canal’s plans. The only way to get HS2 to act at all was to put in a planning application. Which CCT did, and HS2 duly objected. Why? Because they hadn’t decided what level to build the line at, and might want to build it at a lower level. So CCT dusted down some plans it had made some years earlier, when it had appeared possible that a lower level railway crossing might be needed. These plans involved adding a second new lock - not the one to bring the canal back up to its original level, but another one to lower it even further to get it under a theoretical lower-level rail crossing which might (but probably won’t) be needed. And this would involve modifying the new length of canal below Staveley Town Lock that the CCT volunteers have been working on for years. Oh, and it would then need two more new locks the other side of this theoretical low level railway line to get it back to the original level. These plans were supplied to HS2 and it duly withdrew its objection, meaning that the Towns Fund bid could go ahead. And fingers crossed that the canal will get its money. And at some point between now and about 2024, it’s hoped that further negotiations with HS2 will end in an agreement that the lower level crossing and second extra lock to lower the canal won’t be needed after all. And finally, it seems there’s a chance HS2’s north eastern branch will be dropped anyway, and the canal won’t need any new locks at all - not even the one they’ve aready built...
Chesterfield Canal and HS2
Renishaw Two new locks needed (or possibly four?) to provide headroom for canal under HS2 depot access siding Puddle Bank
Route of planned HS2 depot access siding
To London
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Progress Ashby Canal After a quiet couple of years getting their (Transport & Works) Act together, Ashby Canal Association are gearing up to get some practical work going Ashby Canal
Martin Ludgate
For the last 4 ½ years there has unfortunately been very little visible progress towards the restoration of the Ashby Canal, but that does not mean that we have been inactive by any means. Back in the Summer of 2016 we completed our last major milestone towards the restoration of the missing section of the canal. This was with the opening of the newly rebuilt Bridge 62, or ‘Faulks Bridge’ as it was originally known plus the extension of the navigation to just the other side of the bridge where it now terminates with a winding hole. The next obstacle against further restoration has been the need for a new aqueduct over the Gilwiskaw brook as the original structure was removed after that section of canal was closed back in the late 1960’s. When the works were being carried out for the last restored section of canal and the rebuilding of bridge 62, the majority of the next section of land from the new terminus to the site of the aqueduct were levelled and graded in preparation for a quicker restart to reinstalling the channel once the aqueduct is in place. We spent the next few years fundraising for the aqueduct with our ‘buy-a-brick’ appeal (which is still active) and taking all of the official steps necessary to be able to get the aqueduct installed. All of the inscribed bricks that have been purchased so far have now been manufactured and have been put on display at Snarestone Wharf until we are ready to install them on the aqueduct. At one point we were hoping for construction to begin in 2019 or 2020 but then we found ourselves being held back, but oddly by some good news. Previously all of the land required for the canal restoration as far as Measham, the next town along the route had been purchased by Leicestershire County Council for the purpose of restoring the canal. LCC also had been granted a Transport and Works Act order (TWAO) to give them the necessary powers to make this possible. In 2019 LCC decided that they no longer have the resources to continue with their involvement of the restoration scheme and offered the transfer of all related assets over to the ACA. This meant that we could not make any further progress with the aqueduct or any other major restoration works until the transfer of the TWAO and land was completed. To this date that process has not yet been finalised, partially due to the emergence of that pesky global pandemic that has held up so many restoration schemes over this last year for one reason or another. We are now however close to having this process completed in the not too distant future and will hopefully be able to soon report back with a significant increase in restoration activity. Whilst waiting for the Current limit of navigation, view towards Gilwiskaw aqueduct site TWAO transfer to be com-
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ACA
pleted we have more recently had another project that we have been working on. We received a £10,000 grant from the IWA for the installation of a footpath to link up the current canal terminus at Snarestone with the neighbouring town of Measham. This will be largely following the restoration route of the canal and therefore future towpath and will provide an important link for both users of the canal to be able to walk into Measham but also for the people of Measham to be able to get to the canal. This has also been impeded to some extent by the ongoing pandemic and at the time of writing we are stuck in another national lock-down. Despite this we have however been able to make a good start on the project with just a small handful of regular volunteers performing some clearing works and also with some additional support by a local group of professional Sponsored bricks on display while waiting to be used volunteers that we were put in touch with via a connection we have made with the National Forest. We have also employed a local contractor to perform some minor earth works that were required to level out some land that runs through various fields. We still have at least one area that requires more significant work than can be achieved by hand to get the footpath from a lower level within a field up to the higher level of a former railway trackbed on an embankment that will in future become the new route for this diverted section of canal. On the morning of Sunday 29th November we had a breach in the restored section of canal due to an issue with a culvert that had been installed back in 2016 by the contractors assigned by LCC to perform the works. Thanks to the swift action of a number of ACA members and visitors that were present at the time we were able to install stop planks at the point where the waters change from CRT ownership and stem any further loss of water. Not before a significant amount had been lost into an adjacent field along with many fish, though. With the land of the restored section still belonging to LCC at this time we have no control over when the repairs will take place but we believe that the contract has been awarded so this should begin very soon. As we are working to restore the missing section of an existing canal we have a number of assets both on our restored section and along the CRT owned section of canal that require constant maintenance. These are items such as benches, notice boards and mile posts etc which we regularly work to maintain but due to the number and spaced out locations of these we are always on the look out for more volunteers to help us with this. We also have our base and shop at Snarestone Wharf which too requires regular maintenance, especially between spring & autumn plus we hold regular work parties when not being restricted by a global pandemic! Towards the end of last summer we held a number of work parties to install a new canopy in front of the shop which greatly improves the visual appeal, especially now we have also installed panels/curtains around the sides to enclose the area from the weather. Once the TWAO transfer is completed and lockdown lifted we will need more volunteers than ever so anyone wishing to help can contact us via our website www.ashbycanal.org.uk Arran Jenkins & Anne-Marie Eccles Work Party and Volunteer Coordinators, Ashby Canal Association
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news Training Grant 2021 A one-off opportunity for WRG volunteers to receive funding for training for a recognised qualification in ant area of benefit to waterway restoration WRG Skills Training Grant 2021 The WRG Skills Training Grant 2021 is a oneoff grant, funded by our successful National Lottery Heritage Fund Grant to help WRG volunteers ‘dust off their shovels’ after a year-long gap and get ready to return to canal restoration in 2021-22. The background: The Restoration Hub operated by WRG’s parent body the Inland Waterways Association received a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. This covered a number of elements involving developing online resources to help canal projects, offering heritage skills training, providing guidance on environmental and sustainability issues, and facilitating better communication between relevant organisations. Owing to Covid we have been unable to deliver some of the training elements of this, so by agreement with NHLF we have been allowed to repurpose the funds for individual training. We therefore have a short term (between now and 31 July) skills training grant for WRG volunteers to apply for. Guidance: The award is subect to conditions including the following:
. . . . . .
Training must be completed and claim forms must be received by 31 July. It is only open to WRG volunteers. Applicants must include full details of training with the application. The course should provide a certificate or a recognised qualification. This would normally be by a recognised training organisation. The training award will consider up to 100% of direct costs (i.e. course, travel and accommodation costs), up to a maximum of £350. WRG will consider contributing up to £350 for more expensive courses. Applications must be received in good time before training has commenced, in order to allow time for review and discussion. We cannot fund retrospective applications.
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Preferred areas: Although applications will be accepted for any area of training which will benefit WRG canal camps, weekend working parties and wider activities, there is a list of ‘preferred areas’. Examples of areas we will fund include:
. . . . . . . . .
Bricklaying Stone walling Construction manager training (SSSTS) Hedgelaying Food hygiene Covid awareness training First Aid Surveying Machine operation
For more details including a full guidance note and application form, see the WRG website or contact Jenny Morris on 01494 783453 or jenny.morris@wrg.org.uk.
Smalley for sale! Remember Smalley excavators? Those strange machines with two wheels and two legs which dragged themselves around by their bucket, and were popular on canal restoration sites in the early days? Well maybe you don’t if you’re under 50... but anyway, Grantham Canal Society has one for sale. Over to Colin Bryan... The long term Smalley digger (fondly known as Duncan), has become surplus to requirements at Woolsthorpe depot and needs to go to an enthusiastic new owner (rather than just be weighed in for scrap!) Ian Wakefield and myself bought it back in 1990, it has done sterling work over the years including digging out the byweir at Lock 18, and lifting the heavy stuff from most of the locks at the Woolsthorpe end of the canal in the 1990s and early 2000s, and more recently as a trainer for our workboat Centuri (which has a similar Smalley aboard). It comes with its cab and glass, three buckets plus tow bar (though I wouldn’t
news Smalley for sale! ...and a one-off opportunity to own an item of plant that you never thought you’d see again - the legendary Smalley walking excavator! fancy going far by road due to age of tyres), and the engine is good starter. Selling to best offer. Contact me by email at colinholiday12@gmail.com or phone 07778890139 if you’d like a chat. All money raised will of course go to GCS funds.
pose) will be required to demonstrate a 10% increase in biodiversity on or near development sites. Although it may seem like yet another imposition on a canal restoration movement that’s already being hit with more than its share of extra red tape / hurdles to jump / extra expense; however at the same time it’s quite possible that there are places where canal restoration could actually benefit by providing the ‘net gain’ for an adjacent development. But like it or not, it’s expected to become a mandatory requirement by 2023 and may well already be required within your local authority area, so those of you involved in local canal restoration groups are already finding yourselves having to deal with it - or will do soon. To help you, the Inland Waterways Association’s Restoration Hub has formed the new Biodiversity Net Gain Working Group to support and prepare the waterway restoration sector during and prior to BNG becoming law. On the 29th March 2021 the working group held its inaugural meeting to highlight its aims and objectives and to set out priorities for the year. Below you can find out what has been discussed: The working group’s aims are to:
. . Any offers for Duncan the Smalley?
Biodiversity Net Gain Working Group We’ve already covered Biodiversity Net Gain in earlier issues of Navvies, but to recap: Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) is an approach to nature conservation whereby new developments in England (and yes, many canal restoration projects are likely to count as ‘developments’ for this pur-
.
Prepare and support restoration groups for the implementation of BNG prior to and after it becoming mandatory in the UK Respond to and lobby on behalf of restoration groups to ensure the interests of canal restoration are adequately represented at all stages Undertake case studies of canal restorations in relation to BNG in differing contexts and provide training for the sector
BNG Statement: The Working Group agreed to action a restoration sector statement on Biodiversity Net Gain. The statement would be intended to be used to gather support from the restorations across
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news Net gain again... More on biodiversity net gain, plus a reminder about diesel, and a note of our appreciation of the work of one of IWA’s honorary consulting engineers the country to allow members and experts on behalf of the working group to lobby government and respond to updates relating to BNG. Training programme: A training programme, to support the restoration and waterways sector on the various aspects that cover BNG through a collaborative effort, will be developed over the coming years. Currently two sessions on BNG have been held and can be found on our IWA YouTube channel covering the basics and introducing the core principles. Over 2021 we are looking to get a wider view from across the country on how other organisations are working with BNG, including topics that will cover the following:
. .
Biodiversity Net Gain - A Planning Perspective Biodiversity Net Gain – A Developers Experience
Restoration case studies: The Working Group agreed that there is a need to undertake a number of case studies using the biodiversity metric to assess how BNG will be applied to canal restorations in differing landscape contexts. The BNG process would be applied on restorations to demonstrate the opportunities or issues that could occur. Case studies would be undertaken on areas of canals with the following characteristics:
. . . . . .
Urban Semi-urban Rural Dry canal Re-watered canal Naturalised Canal (high biodiversity priority)
Contact us: If you are concerned or would like to discuss how Biodiversity Net Gain will affect your waterway restoration work, contact alex.melson@waterways.org.uk and we can arrange a discussion. Alex Melson
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From plants to plant... If you follow the boating press you’ll be aware that the threat to end the use of ‘red’ (lower duty) diesel for propulsion of leisure boats (even when the extra duty is paid on it) has been lifted by the UK government, and the current system will continue. What you should also be aware of, but we’re taking this opportunity to remind you just in case, is that it’s part of a wider review of use of lower duty fuel which will end the use of red diesel for on-site plant and machinery. So that means that when the new rules come in, you’ll need to run your dumpers, pumps etc on ‘white’ road fuel (DERV).
...and on the subject of fuel... Our parent body the Inland Waterways Association has set up a sustainability group and one thing it is doing is looking at possible use of other fuels, such as HVO (hydrogenated vegetable oil). We’ll keep you posted.
...and vehicles... Don’t forget that if you’re planning on driving one of our WRG vans in the London area, the Ultra Low Emissions Zone is being enlarged from 25 October this year. From that date, older vans that don’t satisfy the emissions limits will be charged for travelling within an area extending out to (but not including) the North and South Circular roads. Of our current Canal Camps fleet, vehicles RFB and SAD comply and are exempt; BOB and EHP don’t and must pay.
Thank you... ...to Roy Sutton, well-known to many of us as a regular KESCRG volunteer, but also until he recently retired, one of the Inland Waterways Association’s Honorary Engineering Consultants. Our thanks for his many years’ service providing civil engineering input to much of our restoration work.
infill Deirdre’s back! Dear Deirdre I’m keen to insist volunteers bring their vaccine passports to my next camp but I’ve got a problem. My best bricklayer thinks that vaccination is a conspiracy to retrofit alien DNA into humans for the purpose of planetary takeover by a reptilian species that plans to enslave us. What should I do – he’s really good on wingwalls?! - H K, Swansea-de-la-Zouch Deirdre writes Sadly bricklayers do seem to be prone to conspiracy theories – I think it’s the repetition of the work that lets their mind wander a bit far from the regular path. Could you perhaps hem him in with some Heras fencing to enforce social distancing? [continued over]
The BCN Clean Up quiz: As the Clean Up weekend on the Birmingham Canal Navigations fell victim to the pandemic, London WRG and friends ran an online social instead with a BCN theme, and the editor provided some puzzles. Can you identify these close-ups of objects that we’ve dragged out of the murky BCN waters on previous years’ events?
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Dear Deirdre I’ve been super bored in lockdown so I tried joining my local canal trust for one of their work days. Unfortunately I’ve found them very difficult to get along with. They don’t have any good chat – no one has any thoughts or observations about tractor engines and they only have a rudimentary knowledge of the Beeching railway cuts (barely enough for a half hour’s conversation!). I tried showing everyone slides of my favourite gantry cranes but they seemed very uninterested. None of them have ever been to a steam fair or read any books about industrial engineering. I tried teaching them the lyrics to all the best Dr Busker songs but they were very po-faced, even about the very funny ones, so I had to sing them all by myself. They’re also all very shy – they all seem to want to work at the opposite end of site to me and no-one wants to car share. I’d quite like to go back next time but these people are clearly very gauche – have you any advice for how to help bring them out of themselves? - J Y, Basingwich Deirdre writes It’s very sad that these people are all so sheltered. I find if people are new to the topic they tend to engage a bit more with the giant cantilevered crane photos in my collection, maybe try those as a starting point? Hopefully WRG will start digging again soon so you can enjoy the company of normal people again.
BCN Clean Up quiz: the answers... bench
mower
cleaner
fence
bike trolley
sleeper car wing kayak
barbecue
bath
monitor
sink
tyre
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shower hose
motorbike
camp bed traffic cone
ladder
toilet seat
outro 2021 Canal Camp sites?
Potential Canal Camp site 3: the Lichfield Canal’s Falkland Road diversion Site 4: repair side 2 of Geldeston Lock on the Waveney
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Potential Canal Camp site 5: the Shrewsbury & Newport’s Wappenshall East Basin Site 6: the newly-dredged Swansea Canal
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