And what’s it up to at the moment?

restoration hub update

WRG’s parent body IWA does a lot more restoration-related stuff besides practical work under the banner of ‘The Restoration Hub’. What’s it all about?

What is the IWA Restoration Hub?

The Restoration Hub was formed by the Inland Waterways Association in 2017 to provide a centralised service for advice and resources, plus practical hands-on support to help waterway restoration groups based on individual waterways around the country to manage their waterway projects.

Essentially it is our quick and easy way of saying “how IWA supports waterway restoration”! The Hub Goals are to:

Support:

.Be a central point of control, helping signpost restoration groups through the challenging process of restoring a canal. . Provide support via our panel of experts to produce up to date guidance, running workshops and free online resources. . Organise visits to restoration groups, to be attended by appropriate experts who will offer specialist support, guidance and resources.

Enable:

.Provide practical assistance through WRG Canal Camps and Regional Weekends. Volunteers administer hands on support through training in construction skills and machine operation, advise on health and safety and contribute over 40,000 volunteer hours a year towards practical canal restoration and planning. Champion:

.Campaign for the waterways restoration movement at a national level, encouraging, promoting and enabling waterway restoration to galvanise the attention and support of influential politicians, media and key stakeholders.

So what has the Restoration Hub been doing?

Technical Support: IWA’s Restoration Hub has a Technical Support Officer, Mikk Bradley, dedicated to supporting Canal Camps (for example through site visits to discuss the work with local societies) and giving advice to external restoration groups.

The start of the year has involved a lot of site visits and planning to ensure WRG’s Canal Camps are well planned and have all the appropriate paperwork in place. Mikk has also found time to support several other projects such as:

.Neath Canal – mooring post details . Burndell Bridge (Portsmouth & Arundel Canal) – scope of works for bridge repairs . Chesterfield Canal Trust - advice on back pumping and canal lining . Wendover Canal Trust - general engineering advice, level surveys . Hanwell Partnership - restoration of sideponds, IWA involvement and work parties . Friends of Cromford Canal - preparation of cost estimate for Beggarlee extension . Lancaster Canal Trust - advice on identifying leak . Ashtac 50 event - review of risk assessment

If you have any queries or questions that Mikk or IWA’s Honorary Consultants could help with please contact Mikk mikk.bradley@waterways.or.uk or call 01494 783 453 page 12

Saving Aberdulais Aqueduct The aqueduct, which carries the Tennant Canal over the River Neath, is an important historic structure and also a vital link in the proposed restoration of the Neath, Tennant and Swansea canals to create a 30-mile navigable network in this area of South Wales - but storm damage has left it in danger of collapse, and threatened with demolition as a result of concerns that it would add to the flooding risk. In August 2021 IWA’s Restoration Hub successfully applied for a CADW grant to cover the cost of a structural survey of the Aqueduct. In September Mann Williams, who specialise in creative conservation of historic buildings and structures, undertook the survey and produced a report at the end of January 2022.

The main conclusion of this investigation and report is that, despite appearances, the condition of the monument is relatively stable and in its current state repair is feasible. IWA believes urgent and immediate works should be as quickly as possible to mitigate further damage increasing the cost and complexity of repairs.

In early May IWA’s Restoration Hub, Neath & Tennant Canals Trust and CADW are planning to jointly host a site visit with all the key stakeholders (Natural Resources Wales, Neath Port Talbot Council, The Owners of the Aqueduct and Network Rail) to discuss and agree the next steps for the project in order to conserve the structure, consolidating what is currently there, so that in the future it can be strengthening and relined and revert back to navigation.

At a local level there is a growing awareness of heritage and the important of project heritage assets in the area. We believe there is a real opportunity to save this heritage asset and will continue to lead on this campaign. Restoration Conference: This annual event organised by the IWA Restoration Hub (in partnership with the Canal & River Trust) returned to a ‘real’ format after two years of virtual conferences with an event held close to the Cotswold Canals in Stroud. To a certain extent the subject matter returned to more practical levels too. There were presentations on canal channel lining methods and materials (from traditional clay to the latest acrylic polymer impregnated geotextile liners), giving the factors for and against each type (and which we hope will be the subject of a technical article in a future Navvies); and on how the Cotswold Canals restoration has been dealing with the practical challenges facing the current Phase 1b (Saul Junction to Stonehouse) restoration scheme.

Other topics included a rundown of the latest restoration funding sources such as the Government’s Levelling Up Fund and Shared Prosperity Fund, including a case study on what went into securing the Montgomery Canal’s £15 million grant for a large part of the remaining work needed on the Llanymynech to Welshpool length.

All the PowerPoint presentations from the conference are available on the IWA website - see waterways.org.uk and click ‘campaigns’ then ‘restoration’ and ‘Reconnecting the Waterway Restoration Sector’.

Restoration Hub High Level Panel: The Restoration Hub’s High Level Panel is a key component of our work to champion restoration at a national level – encouraging, promoting and enabling waterway restoration to galvanise the attention and support of the media, influential politicians and other key stakeholders.

The Panel is made up of a small team of individuals who have experience in waterways restoration at a strategic level. Working together, members of the Panel discuss key barriers facing the waterway restoration movement in order to give feedback and strategic direction to IWA trustees on how the Association can best support restoration. Working with the Hub team they support stakeholder engagement meetings with Environment Agency, Government and waterway authorities at a national level. They are also able to offer professional advice and guidance to specific waterway restoration challenges.

The Panel have recently commissioned a report that looks at exploring the waterways’ role as a key part of our national infrastructure that brings a wider range of benefits. The report is due out in late Spring/ early summer 2022. The Panel is also looking at how we build capacity across the sector (details on the opposite page). The Panel meet 2-3 times a year. If you would like an issue to be discussed by the Panel please email jenny.morris@waterways.org.uk

The current members of the Panel are: Terry Cavender (Buckingham Canal Society); Nigel Crowe (IWA’s Heritage Advisory Group); John Dodwell (Montgomery Canal Partnership); Neil Edwards (Director of Essex Waterways); Martin Ludgate: (Editor of Navvies); Chris Madge (Derby & Sandiacre Canal Trust); Ken Oliver (Wiltshire Council - Wilts and Berks Canal); George Rogers (Chesterfield Canal Trust / Friends of the Cromford Canal); Mike Palmer (Waterway Recovery Group); John Pomfret (Inland Waterways Association Navigation Committee); Alison Smedley (IWA Senior Research & Projects Specialist); Robin Stonebridge (Chesterfield Canal Trust); Peter Walker (Canal & River Trust). Virtual Restoration Hub – Online Resources Don’t forget you can access all of

the Restoration Hub resources for free via IWA’s main website. IWA’s virtual Restoration Hub is a shared space for waterway restoration volunteers, organisations and other groups. This contains lots of useful resources, including WRG’s Driver Authorisation forms and information; series of toolkits on fundraising, safety, technical and environmental issues; Resto- A selection of the resources available on the Virtual Restoration Hub ration TV; Details of the Annual Waterways Restoration Conference, events and workshops.

To set up a sign-on, go to https://waterways.org.uk/i-want-to-join-the-restoration-hub Environmental Support: IWA’s Restoration Hub is also able to offer environmental support to restoration groups. Jonathan Green, a member of the staff team, has a BSc in Physical Geography and Post Graduate MSc in Environmental Change, Management & Monitoring. Please contact Jonathan if your restoration group requires advice on Wildlife and Environmental Legislation such as the Water Framework Directive, Biodiversity Net Gain, or smallscale Phase 1 Habitat Surveys and basic Preliminary Ecological Appraisals (subject to day rate/ travel costs being agreed). Jonathan.green@waterways.org.uk / 01494 783 453 Jenny Morris plus other contributions

Canal restoration groups: we want to hear from you! “Building capacity within the sector”

There’s money around that could be available for grants to canal restoration, but in order to take advantage of it, is there a need for “building capacity within the sector”?

Session 3 of the IWA/CRT Restoration Conference highlighted opportunities for the restoration sector resulting from the Levelling Up Fund and the Shared Prosperity Fund. But does the restoration sector have the capacity to take advantage of these opportunities? This question is key to maximising the opportunities available and delivering the most benefit from the restoration efforts.

As such, the Restoration Hub’s High Level Panel has set up a small working group to consider the questions:

(1) Is there a shortfall in capacity and/or skills to deliver restoration projects? In this question, ‘capacity’ concerns both: (a) Capacity at the planning / project development stage and (b) Capacity at the project delivery stage

(2) If so, how could the IWA Restoration Hub support the restoration sector to increase capacity and/or upskill restoration projects?

The working group is currently looking at question (1) and is seeking to talk to lots of restoration organisations at different stages of their projects in order to understand how they manage the planning and delivery of restoration works and how they resource this. As a guide, the working group had an initial session to identify some of the key areas in our experience that can be challenging or require a lot of external support (you may have others!) and came up with this list...

.Engineering design (permanent and temporary works) . Dealing with utilities . Training . Health & Safety . Funding . Legal matters . Land acquisition . Planning . Ecology . Marketing . Insurance . Strategic Alignment . Project Management . Contracts & procurement . Cost forecasting & management . Governance . Research & evaluation.

We welcome any input from restoration societies and individuals. If you’d like to share your thoughts, please contact George Rogers in the first instance.

George Rogers Chesterfield Canal Trust (development@chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk)