Greg Klaes

The value of £0.80 to £1.00/kg of wood burned comes from a large sawmill complex owner who burns scrap and sawdust to "kiln" try timber; it was quoted at a seminar at the University of York that I attended to research The Arbour Project. The wood must be burned in an approved boiler and is paid for 7 years in a domestic situation and 20 years in a commercial (like workshps at Hatton or central offices at Leeds) The £500,000/year for carbon sequestration comes from research with UMP a forest management company and confirmed via the Farm Diversity Conference at Olympia. In order to avoid the 2degree C rise that would trigger (tipping point) massive glacial melting somewhere between 60%-80% of known fossil fuels must never be mined, drilled, or used. Wood is sustainable insofar as trees can be planted to replace those that are consumed. CRT's present policy is to cut down and not replace. This is folly. It is also just plain stupid to allow the cut timber to be stolen instead of collected, seasoned, and sold for revenue to support the charity. Yes, you can buy, right now, cheaper diesel to burn but it is not sustainable. If and only if we wish for the canals and ourselves to be there in the future will we need to change the way we use and produce energy. By encouraging young folks in schools to grow and plant along the navigations will they find ownership in the canals and hopefully look after them when we are gone.....All this was confirmed at lectures at the Association for Science Education Annual meeting at the University of Reading last week. Biodiversity is threatened and in major decline, the pollinators are a huge problem as they are being destroyed, food crops will need to be produced in huge increased amounts due to expanding global population, at the same time that agricultural land is increasingly put under more and more strain due to more chemicals. Our use of the canals has a large footprint in terms of the environment...we need to do something to help balance that...my answer is to plant trees...as fast as we can....g

Hello...Greg at Clattercote Wharf can provide temporary moorings along the organic farm frontage...fresh organic eggs, firewood, water tap, & toilet disposal if and only if green fluid is used...car parking,...maybe even a ride to the bus or train station in Banbury and pick up-below taxi prices....glad to help if i can gregg@forgefarm.com or 07831631671.....g

The perspective of CCers not paying for Police, Fire, and other public services like Environmental of not being fair comes from the cost burden of those services falling only on both home owners and businesses. I am not sure about ambulance or doctor services. The resentment comes from the idea that you pay for what you use or in some other way put back what you use from the common pot. It would compound the situation even more if the boater overstayed or indeed used a easily obtainable mooring, parked on the road near by, sent their children to the local school, signed on the the local doctor, but indeed made no financial contribution to the local area safety or upkeep. If a boat is moving all the time, involved in a trade, and was as the working boats of old then their might be less friction. But, living 3 or 4 abrest, burning coal and being right next to a £2million london home just magnifies the disparity. Pulling a midnight swap with a pal via mobile is not continuous cruising. This pain will only get worse....g

Very interesting replies/comments on this topic. However, no one seems to be addressing the possibility that CRT is missing £500,000 each and every year by not having a Forest Management Plan. The trees are there, we need more trees and we need to manage the trees in a way that allows CRT to claim carbon sequestration value and sell that on the open market. The wood is valuable insofar as using in approved wood burning boilers; the government will pay £0.80 to £1.00 per kilogram to burn wood instead of oil, gas, or electricity for heating. The collection and storage and sale of the wood can be done by volunteers. I sold it at Glastonbury Festival last year and have permission to do so again this summer. This was sold in 5kg nets for festival goes to burn. Michael Evas allows/encourages festival goers to have fires. CRT could be making loads of dosh from a properly manages towpath forest. And, the trend for festivals is to provide community burners (large metal bowls) for the all nighters. Volunteers could be selling the wood that the festival goers want to add to the fires. Again, what a great opportunity for CRT to make more folks aware of the canals and what they can offer. Farmland birds and pollinators are in decline; the canals and their hedgerows containing trees can be a resouvior for that biodiversity if and only if it is mangaed properly. And then it can make money for CRT and pay its way. The real question they need to answer is Why are they reluctant to manage the trees in a way that earns money instead of a rather large drain on their resources. Sorry I don't get to the computer more often...just busy on the farm/wharf. How close does the K & A canal come to Pilton...is the canal at Frome?.....g

Defra will disperse about £35 billion pounds in the next five years for "greening" projects. That is the 12% of the CAP U.K. gets back from the EU. Owen Patterson wanted to move the greening amount (Teir II) up to 15% but concerted efforts by the NFU etc stopped it at 12%. CRT does not even have a Defra registration number to apply for greening schemes....incredegilous as such a huge landowner across the country. They are completely out of touch with capitalizing on the asset the Towpath Forest represents.

The 2nd marina in Cropredy was granted planning permission. Has not been developed or built. Permissions like this can not be lost unless local council pays compensation. But, work must begin...could be only a few shovels full of soil turned. Thanks for update...also, mooring in Cropredy with "residential development" land...to the North of the large house on the same site as the canoe club...is for sale....I have heard £275,000 from Richard who lives in the cottage on the lock...he keeps his boat on the mooring....g

Many thanks for the view of the old picture of the canal....geat stone wall protecting the working boats from the cross winds that must blow the boats onto the off side mud if not there. Trees and hedges are an integreal part of the canals. Not sure of other canals but in the origional canal act that I have read about the Oxford Canal (These are kept in the Black Rod Tower of Parliment in London-great day out to go and read these) the width of the canal was 3 feet for the hedge, 7 feet for the towpath (so two horses could pass) and 22 feet of water so two boats could pass with one moored on the towpath. The Oxford Canal Company did not buy the off side of the canal; in fact it clealy states in the origional act that farmers could use the canal free of charge for several miles if they were using it for agriculture...not carrying "goods" for example corn to market. An example of this is Hay Bridge just North of the Top of the Claydon Flight...really tall to accomodate large loads of hay brought along the canal for winter feed for the cattle and horses. The tree that fell into the canal a few years ago on the GU belonged to the farmer..at the inquest into the death of the woman the tree pinned under water and killed he was severly repemanded for not taking care of the mature tree that was indeed his responsibility. Trees must be managed, new trees planted to replace ones that are harvested. Managed trees can earn money by carbon sequestration; maybe that would be something to discuss-what type of carbon off-set is being done by the leisure and general boating to soak up all the carbon? Next time you cruise past Forge Farm'/Clattercote Wharf have a good look at the trees...they all started out as acorns in my class room, brought in by students....or have a look at the satelite view of the farm...post code is OX17 1QA.....g

Removal of the cut timber by boaters is theft, pure and simple. Unless you have a paid receipt for the wood it is stolen property. Yes, we have all done it in the past, me included. But the number of boats on the canals now as we all know is far greater than when they were working canals. And, as a charity with responsibility for developing assets to provide income, the possiblility of making money from the carbon sequestration value of the managed trees is not something to be ignored. Trees along the cuttings, generally are a huge benefit. Unless the topography is totally unsuitable then trees will stableize embankments. Decidious trees loose their leaves in the winter when the stongest winds blow so they do not generally fall over ripping up the bank. Conifers would not be a good idea as they can in wet weather do damage. Again, a managed forest plan is required. I went on line and looked at the satelite view of Somerton Deep the other day; yes, at least one of the Oak trees on the embankment on the West side of the lock was still growing holding the bank stable. I planted that tree with my students from Upper Heyford in 1977; we had grown them from acorns. If this was done across the country and students were allowed/encouraged to plant along the canal they would have ownership in what in the end must be their responsibility in future to look after and maintain and enjoy. Oak trees support about 150 different species to add to the biodiversity. Yes, of course we need the dog rose, Ash, hawthorn, and all the other rich variety to keep the towpath hedge growing strong and to provide the wind break needed if the canals are ever to be used year round again for commercial traffic. One spurious argument not mentioned so far is the roots getting into the fiber optic cabels

A few weeks ago in the Banbury Guardian in the planning applications section it was listed that a marina is to be built South of Banbury near a new housing development at Bodicote. Has anyone gone to Cherwell District Council to look at the plans? Is there a reference number?....g

In reply to #37-Luctor et emergo....I have offered to volunteer to collect and process and sell...Glastonbury Festival have again asked me to organize 20 tonnes of seasoned firewood for Tipi Field and The Kings Meadow fires for 2015. I obtained this on the open commercial market; it could come from CRT Towpath Forest if managed properly. Their reply in effect was to offer me a high vis and gloves and hard hat to pick up beer cans on the towpath....g

Under the Renewable Heat Incentive the government will pay between £0.80 to £1.00 per kg for buring wood in an approved boiler system. They will pay this for 20 years for a commercial installation and 7 for a private one. So...how much does it cost to heat the large complex at Hatton or indeed Ferns Wharf in Leeds? If the wood was collected-from the point where CRT has already paid someone to cut it down, stored (seasoned) and then burned as large lumps in the approved wood burners it may indeed be a positive gain in financial terms. However, the important thing is that if the wood was being collected from A Managed Towpath Forest (which would include planting trees to replace the ones taken out) then the equivalent forest (2000 acres-extrapolated from 2000 miles of towpath) could be used to sell the carbon sequestration value of up to 1/2 a million pounds per year....every year) Maybe even the collection of the felled and stacked timber could be done by encouragement...provide volunteers with working boats environmental/agricultural licenses to go and collect the wood. It would help those with working boats a chance to keep the boats in active use and improve the environment and make money for CRT. Lots of the cuttings and chippings must stay in the hedge as they are the bottom of the food chain for the rich biodiversity we all want on the canal corridore.

Why did BWB and now CRT not collect the wood from Towpath cuttings and sell it as firewood to raise money? Why do they allow it to be stolen when it is a valuable resource that should earn it's keep? Diseased wood could be turned into charcoal and sold again to raise funds.