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Bedford Milton Keynes Link?


gemmaze

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41 minutes ago, Loddon said:

If you are 50 or older I doubt it will open before you die. ;)

Much like the Buckingham Arm and possibly the Wendover arm as well.

Good to see something is happening, but unless there is a tangible plan to cross the M1, it is still just a pipe dream.

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The M1 isnt the problem, the cattle creep under has always been the plan , it is the duelling of the A421 that has potentially put paid as no culvert has been planned in, and a post construction culvert would be prohibitively expensive.

Screenshot_20200711-155752_Maps.jpg

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I thought the M1 was already able to be crossed by an old(ish) cattle tunnel. The big problem at the moment is the new A421 has no provision for the canal to cross it. They had to incorporate a plan for it when the planning was approved, which they have done, but they would not install the culvert during the new build -  so if the new canal is to cross the new road, a new culvert will have to be dug under the new road - cost estimated at £10 million. If the road builders had built the culvert at the same time, cost estimated at £1 million - bastards!!

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14 minutes ago, matty40s said:

The M1 isnt the problem, the cattle creep under has always been the plan , it is the duelling of the A421 that has potentially put paid as no culvert has been planned in, and a post construction culvert would be prohibitively expensive.

Thanks, Matty.  Last time I was reading on that, possibly on the website which I linked to, there were plans for Falkirk style lift or such.

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9 minutes ago, Mike Tee said:

I thought the M1 was already able to be crossed by an old(ish) cattle tunnel. The big problem at the moment is the new A421 has no provision for the canal to cross it. They had to incorporate a plan for it when the planning was approved, which they have done, but they would not install the culvert during the new build -  so if the new canal is to cross the new road, a new culvert will have to be dug under the new road - cost estimated at £10 million. If the road builders had built the culvert at the same time, cost estimated at £1 million - bastards!!

As planning permission was being sought I contacted two MP's :-

  • The one who covered the area said he couldn't comment as I wasn't in his constituency...
  • The one who is my MP said it was not his place to comment as the works were not in his constituancy

I leave you to draw your own conclusions...

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Just to be clear, the entire route is now 'cast in (the planners) stone' and cannot be built on, or permanently blocked in any way - as with the A421 crossing though, it is all down to cost now, which is steadily rising.

But nothing is cast in stone - the old Gyosi (spelling?) school in Milton Keynes had a huge playing field, and there was a 1000 year covenant on it to prevent development - it is now covered by a huge retirement village!!!

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5 minutes ago, Martin44 said:

Thanks, Matty.  Last time I was reading on that, possibly on the website which I linked to, there were plans for Falkirk style lift or such.

The Falkirk style lift or other, was, I think, for going up / down Brogborough Hill

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There was a competition around the local schools for the best design for crossing Brogborough Hill. The winning design was for a giant helter-skelter with water running down it for the boats. I would love to take that ride! But I don't know how boats were supposed to travel up it.

 

I believe this was actually the design submitted with the original plans, and I don't know if it has been changed since then.

 

So it would appear that they don't have a workable technical solution; also I'm fairly sure they don't have a workable financial solution either. Originally I read that it relied on there being a corridor of new houses each side of the canal, which would be saleable at 3 times the usual price because they were waterside, so the developers would share this profit with the canal builders by providing the money in advance to finance the canal. The developers walked away from that plan.

 

So, being 70, I don't expect to live to see it completed. But I do enjoy walking Jessop (the dog) along the first couple of hundred yards every few days.

 

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1 minute ago, Martin44 said:

Needs to be more as they plan it to be a link  for wide beams as well?

That was my thinking. Of limited value really if f@t boats can't go through.

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1 hour ago, matty40s said:

boat1.png

Jane & David Wolfson on their boat Harlequin moored in the entrance to the B&MK Waterway at Campbell Park Marina. On board also John Best & Graham Mabbutt.

Nice looking boat.

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22 minutes ago, Martin44 said:

Needs to be more as they plan it to be a link  for wide beams as well?

Waste of time unless they widen many of the locks on the Ouse. Many of those locks are only 10'6" entrance and exit even though the chamber is wider.

Better use of the track would be a cycleway/footpath ;) at least that could be built.

 

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Most of the boaters on the Great Ouse are extremely strongly against the link. They don't want lots of nasty steel boats on their waters (their newsletter, a few years ago, had some incredibly vitriolic articles on the subject). One of their observations, which I reluctantly had to agree with, was that just one narrowboat with typically 2 people on board, can occupy an entire Great Ouse mooring that could otherwise accommodate at least 6 four-berth GRP cruisers and maybe provide shore access for a couple of family day-boats.

 

Such opposition also seems to make the link's construction unlikely.

  • Greenie 2
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31 minutes ago, Keeping Up said:

Most of the boaters on the Great Ouse are extremely strongly against the link. They don't want lots of nasty steel boats on their waters (their newsletter, a few years ago, had some incredibly vitriolic articles on the subject). One of their observations, which I reluctantly had to agree with, was that just one narrowboat with typically 2 people on board, can occupy an entire Great Ouse mooring that could otherwise accommodate at least 6 four-berth GRP cruisers and maybe provide shore access for a couple of family day-boats.

 

Such opposition also seems to make the link's construction unlikely.

Actually, that is precisely why I have  two minds about this link. On one hand it would be great to have shorter journey to access the canal network, on the other though, the infrastructure is not here. Moorings are already sparse, let alone water points or pumpouts etc.

  • Greenie 1
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Me too, as a moorer on the Fens for the last few years. It's not as if it is particularly hard to get here via the Nene and the Middle Level, if you really want to.

 

I certainly like the isolation, and that lots of people are put off by the hand operated guillotines on the Nene.

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3 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

If I remember correctly its a bit short of head room above Bedford

It's not too bad when the river is normal. We only just made it when the river was high; rather scary coming back down to Bedford with a very very strong current behind us. I just shut my eyes, shut my eyes, and waited for the bang as we approached the railway bridge; when I opened my eyes the bridge was already 50 yards behind us.

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