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:
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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-
