IWA to protect waterways from HS2

[Alan de Enfield]

14/2/20

 

https://www.boatingbusiness.com/news101/inland-waterways/iwa-pledges-to-protect-waterways-from-hs2

The Inland Waterways Association is to continue its decade-long campaign to protect the waterways from the worst effects of HS2’s construction and operation.

The announcement follows the government’s decision that the high-speed rail project will go ahead.

IWA has achieved several changes to the project since 2010 but continues to be concerned about its noise impacts on many waterways and its damaging effects on some canal restoration schemes.

“IWA has petitioned Parliament three times and given evidence to both the House of Commons and Lords Select Committees on a range of issues including the need for better noise protection at all the locations where HS2 crosses or runs close to waterways,” said Phil Sharpe, IWA Lichfield Branch chairman and member of IWA’s planning advisory panel.

 

Concerns

The Government’s decision is to proceed with Phase 1 and Phase 2a of HS2 raising concerns about the noise impact on a section of the Oxford Canal near Wormleighton and the impact of construction on the Trent & Mersey Canal at Great Haywood.

Phase 2b, which is yet to get the final government go-ahead, also prompts concerns for at least 16 waterways in 22 locations.

“Keeping up with HS2 by reading all the reports and examining all the relevant plans has been a massive undertaking but we will continue to engage with all the HS2 public consultations and to campaign for better protection for the precious environment of our navigable and restorable waterways,” added Phil.

[Tonka]

lets see what Nabo and the other chuffs achieve.

[howardang]

25 minutes ago, Tonka said:

lets see what Nabo and the other chuffs achieve.

Pardon my ignorance but what’s a ‘chuff’ in this context ?

 

Howard

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

1 minute ago, howardang said:

Pardon my ignorance but what’s a ‘chuff’ in this context ?

 

Howard

 

 

Apparently :

 

chuff (comparative more chuff, superlative most chuff) (Britain) Surly; annoyed; displeased; disgruntled. (Britain, dialect) stupid; churlish.

[Sir Nibble]

Also.

CHUFF = Arse.

[howardang]

Thanks for both explanations! If that is the opinion of IWA or NABO I suspect that their actions would be irrelevant to Tonka. I wonder if he is a member of either or both?

 

Howard

Edited February 22, 2020 by howardang

[Tony Brooks]

and just how is the IWA going to actually protect the and just how is the IWA going to actually protect the waterways. I can;t see a load of huffing and puffing making much difference and I can't see the IWA luminaries taking direct action nowadays but we will see.

[Tim Lewis]

28 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

and just how is the IWA going to actually protect the and just how is the IWA going to actually protect the waterways. I can;t see a load of huffing and puffing making much difference and I can't see the IWA luminaries taking direct action nowadays but we will see.

IWA HS 2 campaign web site
 

https://www.waterways.org.uk/news_campaigns/campaigns/hs2_campaign/hs2_campaign_overview

[matty40s]

31 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

and just how is the IWA going to actually protect the and just how is the IWA going to actually protect the waterways. I can;t see a load of huffing and puffing making much difference and I can't see the IWA luminaries taking direct action nowadays but we will see.

IWA will be asking its members to chain their shiny boats to key waterways structures in protest. 

Unfortunately  not all the IWA top brass will be able to take part as one has no pins or chains and expects to be able to moor on rings outside his favourite pub on a bank holiday weekend so doesnt need them.

[Scholar Gypsy]

As far as I can see, from various news items over several years:

• IWA have been working hard on this over the last ten years
• They with other partners have achieved some significant improvements to the route
• There's still more to do

They have taken the view that it is not right for IWA to either campaign for or against the project as a whole, I believe. 

[frangar]

At least the IWA are doing more than the Baton Twirlers.....they are probably looking forward to being able to moor next to a station......

[Grassman]

16 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

and just how is the IWA going to actually protect the and just how is the IWA going to actually protect the waterways. I can;t see a load of huffing and puffing making much difference and I can't see the IWA luminaries taking direct action nowadays but we will see.

It was the IWA who brought about the change from HS2's original plans of crossing the Trent & Mersey near Fradley Junction in 3 places to just one place now. They, together with some professional architects, worked out an alternative route which crossed the canal just once instead of the originally planned 3 places and also saved HS2 £55m. Understandably HS2 agreed to it.

 

Another thing the IWA have been working hard on is noise mitigation. HS2 currently are only agreeing to these measures where there are fixed dwellings but the IWA are arguing that boats are dwellings too ,whether they are continuous cruisers, people on holiday, or boaters moored in a more permanent mooring such as a marina or an online one. They are campaigning to have noise mitigation measures put in place wherever to line gets close to a canal/river. They are currently being 'listened to' but how successful they are we will have to wait and see. But whatever the outcome fair play to them for all their efforts.

 

The IWA also do a lot of work reviewing planning applications throughout the country and raise objections to the ones which will have a detrimental affect on the canal environment.  They have been quite successful with some of these over the years. Sometimes it may be modifications to plans and other times it's resulted in a complete abandonment of them.

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, Grassman said:

It was the IWA who brought about the change from HS2's original plans of crossing the Trent & Mersey near Fradley Junction in 3 places to just one place now. They, together with some professional architects, worked out an alternative route which crossed the canal just once instead of the originally planned 3 places and also saved HS2 £55m. Understandably HS2 agreed to it.

 

Another thing the IWA have been working hard on is noise mitigation. HS2 currently are only agreeing to these measures where there are fixed dwellings but the IWA are arguing that boats are dwellings too ,whether they are continuous cruisers, people on holiday, or boaters moored in a more permanent mooring such as a marina or an online one. They are campaigning to have noise mitigation measures put in place wherever to line gets close to a canal/river. They are currently being 'listened to' but how successful they are we will have to wait and see. But whatever the outcome fair play to them for all their efforts.

 

The IWA also do a lot of work reviewing planning applications throughout the country and raise objections to the ones which will have a detrimental affect on the canal environment.  They have been quite successful with some of these over the years. Sometimes it may be modifications to plans and other times it's resulted in a complete abandonment of them.

The trouble is they don't do a very good job of telling non members what they are doing and what they achieve 

[howardang]

42 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

The trouble is they don't do a very good job of telling non members what they are doing and what they achieve 

I am a member of both the IWA and NABOI and your comments may ring true to both organisations, although the stock answer might be instead of being a non-member why not join them and help to spread the message.. In IWA we do try to promote what we do at local boating related events but it can sometimes be an uphill struggle getting the massage across.

 

With particular regard to IWA, one thing we have to remember is that without their efforts in earlier times, and the continuing efforts of the Waterways Recovery Group, we may not have such had such valuable asset to play on! Why not look out for your local IWA meetings - we meet once a month for example - where you be able to meet up with like minded people and maybe learn something about what is going on.

 

Howard

[ditchcrawler]

1 minute ago, howardang said:

I am a member of both the IWA and NABOI and your comments may ring true to both organisations, although the stock answer might be instead of being a non-member why not join them and help to spread the message.. In IWA we do try to promote what we do at local boating related events but it can sometimes be an uphill struggle getting the massage across.

 

With particular regard to IWA, one thing we have to remember is that without their efforts in earlier times, and the continuing efforts of the Waterways Recovery Group, we may not have such had such valuable asset to play on! Why not look out for your local IWA meetings - we meet once a month for example - where you be able to meet up with like minded people and maybe learn something about what is going on.

 

Howard

But people won't pay and join if they don't think the organisation is doing anything for them. They need to reach every boater and tell them whats happening. Maybe with the new Chairman who is a marketing man that may start to happen

[howardang]

9 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

But people won't pay and join if they don't think the organisation is doing anything for them. They need to reach every boater and tell them whats happening. Maybe with the new Chairman who is a marketing man that may start to happen

True, and fingers crossed. A great obstacle we struggle against is the growing difficulty of recruiting new members, especially younger people, and certainly this is a common problem for many membership organisations these days. Both IWA and NABO are not alone in this regard and it may not be helped by the wrongly help perception, which I am sure exists,  that thinks of Inland Boating/Boat Owning as predominately the domain of older people, and I suspect that the prohibitively high cost of hiring as a taster also deters younger people- especially families.

 

Howard

[Up-Side-Down]

19 hours ago, Tim Lewis said:

IWA HS 2 campaign web site
 

https://www.waterways.org.uk/news_campaigns/campaigns/hs2_campaign/hs2_campaign_overview

I can only suggest people follow Tim's link to get an idea just how hard IWA has worked over the past 10 years on route and noise mitigation. There are several significant examples of route changes brought about by tireless and very professional, high calibre intervention and, in more than one instance, this has resulted in actual cost savings to HS2.

 

IWA's volunteer planners have worked incredibly hard to present viable alternatives to alignments that would have blighted a waterway location or compromised a future restoration. To read their submissions is to see true professionalism at work and a dedication to ensuring that our waterways can be enjoyed in the future. I, for one, take my hat off to them and they have my unwavering admiration for all the unpaid hours that they have now devoted to finding viable, alternative routes for HS2 alignments. It has clearly ensured their credibility with HS2 engineers and they are now, justifiably, held in high esteem.

[ditchcrawler]

56 minutes ago, Up-Side-Down said:

I can only suggest people follow Tim's link to get an idea just how hard IWA has worked over the past 10 years on route and noise mitigation. There are several significant examples of route changes brought about by tireless and very professional, high calibre intervention and, in more than one instance, this has resulted in actual cost savings to HS2.

 

IWA's volunteer planners have worked incredibly hard to present viable alternatives to alignments that would have blighted a waterway location or compromised a future restoration. To read their submissions is to see true professionalism at work and a dedication to ensuring that our waterways can be enjoyed in the future. I, for one, take my hat off to them and they have my unwavering admiration for all the unpaid hours that they have now devoted to finding viable, alternative routes for HS2 alignments. It has clearly ensured their credibility with HS2 engineers and they are now, justifiably, held in high esteem.

I follow the IWA facebook page and its very rear they even post unfortunately. 

[Scholar Gypsy]

1 minute ago, ditchcrawler said:

I follow the IWA facebook page and its very rear they even post unfortunately. 

Their regular bulletin is much more useful on this sort of thing.  I think non-members can subscribe:  https://www.waterways.org.uk/news_campaigns/bulletins/bulletins

[ditchcrawler]

1 minute ago, Scholar Gypsy said:

Their regular bulletin is much more useful on this sort of thing.  I think non-members can subscribe:  https://www.waterways.org.uk/news_campaigns/bulletins/bulletins

But they wont because they think the IWA is all old fuddy duddies who want to ban CCing and don't achieve anything because they dont dig up the lawns in Oxford

[howardang]

5 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

I follow the IWA facebook page and its very rear they even post unfortunately. 

You can also access the IWA web site without being a member. There is quite a lot of information there, including local waterway news.

 

https://www.waterways.org.uk/

 

Howard

[Grassman]

21 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

The trouble is they don't do a very good job of telling non members what they are doing and what they achieve 

This has been made more difficult since the introduction of the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) in 2018 which prevents them sending emails without the specific consent of the recipients, and this has severely reduced their scope for informing people about what they are doing. I doubt they have much of an advertising budget so they are reliant upon getting news published in the printed media or on the internet. 

[ditchcrawler]

2 hours ago, Grassman said:

This has been made more difficult since the introduction of the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) in 2018 which prevents them sending emails without the specific consent of the recipients, and this has severely reduced their scope for informing people about what they are doing. I doubt they have much of an advertising budget so they are reliant upon getting news published in the printed media or on the internet. 

Well I am sure they could post here if they wanted to and the only good information on their Facebook page normally comes from @Tim Lewis

[howardang]

4 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Well I am sure they could post here if they wanted to and the only good information on their Facebook page normally comes from @Tim Lewis

What is Facebook?

 

Howard

[ditchcrawler]

Just now, howardang said:

What is Facebook?

 

Howard

Well there are more boaters there than there are here and reach a much bigger audience. I don't know if IWA are on Twitter, CRT are