IWA West Country Branch

Ray Alexander, Branch Chairman

Annual General Meeting 2023

The AGM of the Branch took place on Thursday 30th March at which the minutes of the 2022 AGM, the Chairman’s Report and Treasurer’s Report were adopted unanimously. Chris Jewell stood down from the committee at the AGM, having joined in 1996 and contributed much to the Branch during this time. No other members of the committee needed to stand for re-election on this occasion.

The AGM was followed by an open forum for members, at which a variety of issues were raised, including the IWA’s falling membership, the need to attract the younger generations to join and to spread our net beyond boaters to include, for example, pollution, fishing and canoeing/paddle boarding, the rise in membership fees from 1st January, the financial deficit for 2021 which had been reported at the National AGM last September, the appointment of David Pearce as part-time CEO from January this year and the new IWA Campaign “Protect Our Waterways”. Branch Team Recruitment I took the decision to write a fairly full Chairman’s Report for the AGM and to circulate this to all our members, including those not on e-mail. Part of the reasoning behind this was to yet again appeal to members to join the branch team and become active volunteers. Regrettably, however, this has not led to anyone from our nearly 500 members volunteering to join the Branch Team and to get involved in the activities of the Branch.

Sedgemoor District Council Mike Slade and I attended an event in early March, hosted by Sedgemoor District Council for key volunteer groups, as a thank you for supporting Sedgemoor in the past. Some 20 volunteer organisations were each presented with a plaque and a cheque for £200, which was both pleasing and very welcome. This was a good opportunity for us and it was heartening to hear from others how much they value the work carried out by our volunteers on the Bridgwater & Taunton canal and at the Docks. Photo on page 20.

cont on page 20/…

Exeter Ship Canal The efforts of the Friends of Exeter Ship Canal are largely taken up at the moment on the three development proposals affecting the canal and canal basin. The current position is as follows:

 Haven retail development – a planning application has been made and comments on this have been submitted by the Friends to the City Council.

 Water Lane development – a follow-up exhibition by the developers took place in March which highlighted a number of revisions to the development proposals. The planning application is due to be submitted in June but will only cover the southern section of the site, as another developer will now be dealing with the northern section.

 Exe Water Sports Association development – a public meeting on the proposals for developing the site was held in mid-January.

Bridgwater & Taunton Canal Somerset West & Taunton Council continues to review the submissions on the proposed flood defence works from Firepool Lock to the Railway Bridge. We have been informed by the Project Manager that there will be a response to these in due course but that in the meantime the proposals have been called in by the new Unitary Somerset Council for review. It will be interesting to see how they resolve the proposals to raise the height of Firepool Lock gates, which we understand have been rejected by CRT.

River Tone – former cattle market A planning application for the former Cattle Market alongside the River Tone was released in November, for public consultation. We submitted our comments within the consultation period and are aware that these are being considered along with all the other comments received. Our areas of interest include the following:

 Pedestrian and Cycle links from the canal towpath through to the new development

 Adequate segregation of pedestrians and cyclists, especially taking into account the likely growth of e-bikes

 Access to the waterside for all, with the cycleway away from the water

 Access for a crane to Firepool Lock

 Car Parking for visitors to the river and canal

 No shading of water by tall buildings

 Access to the water for leisure activities (canoeing, etc.)

 Lighting along the towpath/cycleway

 Flood prevention measures

IWA South West Inland Waterways Regeneration Fund (SWIWRF) Two applications for grants from SWIWRF were received prior to the latest deadline of 31st December and these were subsequently approved by the Panel.

 The first was an application by the Grand Western Management team (aka Devon County Council) for funds to purchase three new notice boards, which will take the number funded by the regeneration fund to 5 out of the total of 11 along the Devon section of the canal.

 The second application was from the Friends of Exeter Ship Canal for funding for a consultant’s report on Gabriel’s Wharf on the canal, which is under threat from the proposed Water Lane development alongside the canal.