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UK canals ready-made to meet Government's Environmental Improvement Plan


Ray T

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CRT Press Release

 

31st January 2023

 

In response to today’s announcement by the government about its Environmental Improvement Plan 2023, Richard Parry, chief executive at Canal & River Trust, said:

 

“The government’s announcement today that every household in England is ‘to be within 15 minutes of green space or water’ is welcome news. The nation’s 250-year-old canal network, protected by the Canal & River Trust, is ready-made to play a vital role in providing this. Canal towpaths are already the most accessible and free space for many communities, on the doorstep of nine million people who live within a ten to fifteen-minute walk.

 

“A legacy from our industrial past, canals now flow as arteries of nature throughout towns and cities, often through the country’s most deprived communities where health inequalities, green space deficit and lack of gardens are most pronounced. Our role is making life better by water.  No other charity brings so much accessible green space on the doorstep of so many people – saving the NHS £1.1 billion per annum in preventative health by getting people active and amongst nature.

 

“Our recent study with Kings College London showed that the real time effect of spending time on canals comes with a 6% improvement in mental wellbeing, compared to just green spaces alone. 

 

“Canals are playing a vital role in biodiversity recovery – providing and connecting urban green spaces as well as linking urban areas with the countryside. However, the nation’s Georgian-built canal network, still used by thousands of boats, is old and increasingly vulnerable to the threats of a changing climate. Our ongoing mission is protecting and enhancing the canal network for the benefit of this and future generations.

                                                                                                                                        

“This requires the support of all who use, donate and volunteer on our waterways. It also demands a continued commitment from government who, in the coming weeks, will make a crucial decision about the vital funding that they provide to help keep alive this unique network of canals, rivers, docks and reservoirs.

 

“So, whilst we welcome the government’s plan for new and enlarged nature reserves, it must also, for a relatively modest continued financial commitment, continue to fund and help support nature for the millions of people who use and rely on the linear canal ‘nature reserves’ on their doorstep for everyday health and wellbeing.”

 

Ends

 

Notes to Editors

The Canal & River Trust cares for and brings to life 2,000 miles of canals and rivers across England & Wales. We believe waterways have the power to make a difference to people’s lives and that spending time by water can make us all healthier and happier. By bringing communities together to make a difference to their local waterway, we are creating places and spaces that can be used and enjoyed by everyone, every day.

www.canalrivertrust.org.uk

 

 

Fran Read (she/her)

National press officer

I work Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays

M  07796 610 427

E  fran.read@canalrivertrust.org.uk

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45 minutes ago, Ray T said:

“This requires the support of all who use, donate and volunteer on our waterways. It also demands a continued commitment from government who, in the coming weeks, will make a crucial decision about the vital funding that they provide to help keep alive this unique network of canals, rivers, docks and reservoirs.

 

 

It makes you wonder why, if the Government intends to give on-going support to C&RT, they made no mention of 'canals' (only saying there would be investment in rivers) in their 'Plan'.

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11 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

It makes you wonder why, if the Government intends to give on-going support to C&RT, they made no mention of 'canals' (only saying there would be investment in rivers) in their 'Plan'.

I expect the government wouldn't know the difference between a river and a canal.

  • Greenie 4
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If they keep touting them all as "arteries of nature" and "nature reserves" i suspect we're going to see a lot more shenanigans like they're trying to pull with the Monty,. It may give a tad more funding in the short term, but long term could lead to SSSI's and the like where propellers driven by any means are banned :( 

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8 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

If they keep touting them all as "arteries of nature" and "nature reserves" i suspect we're going to see a lot more shenanigans like they're trying to pull with the Monty,. It may give a tad more funding in the short term, but long term could lead to SSSI's and the like where propellers driven by any means are banned :( 

Part of the Ashby is an SSSI as is the Leicester Arm and both allow  screw driven boats.

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I think there is a chance canals could become Sites of Special Seriously Stupid Idiots. 

 

If and when the dumbing down priorities take over things will go bad very quickly for anyone interested in boats. 

 

 

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11 minutes ago, magnetman said:

I think there is a chance canals could become Sites of Special Seriously Stupid Idiots. 

 

If and when the dumbing down priorities take over things will go bad very quickly for anyone interested in boats. 

 

 

This I agree with and it is something I have been saying one way or another for a long time.

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1 hour ago, magnetman said:

I think there is a chance canals could become Sites of Special Seriously Stupid Idiots. 

 

If and when the dumbing down priorities take over things will go bad very quickly for anyone interested in boats. 

 

 

I think they are that already.

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4 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

Part of the Ashby is an SSSI as is the Leicester Arm and both allow  screw driven boats.

So is the Basingstoke canal.

The government plan states water so if the canal is derelict and still has water in then it meets the requirements 

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21 minutes ago, Tonka said:

So is the Basingstoke canal.

The government plan states water so if the canal is derelict and still has water in then it meets the requirements 

 

It is only a couple of years ago that C&RT caused an uproar - they dredged a non-navigable section of canal and destroyed breeding grounds for a number of species of insects - I think the worse affected were the dragonfly whose lava lives and hatches in the mud. They put them back by several generations.

 

Uproar from boaters asking why they dredged non-navigable canals in preferance to ones in use.

 

A forum thread from 2021 :

 

 

But can you think of any organisation  less worthy of looking after wildlife than CaRT—whose 'experts' don't even know that dragonflies actually exist in the canals for years as nymphs until eventually they metamorphosis as winged dragonflies?  And so scrape them up with the silt (and reeds they are also removing) and dump them on a farmer's field?

It really should stick to what it was created for and leave the wildlife to the many professional organisations that understand it.

 

 

The Canal & River Trust is dredging the non-navigable sections of the Pocklington Canal to further its wildlife, but does it really know what it is doing?

It boasts of 15 varieties of dragonfly being present, but does it not realise that a dragonfly spends years under water as a nymph in  the canal until it eventually metamorphosis as a winged dragonfly?

Killing the living nymphs

So by dredging the silt from the bottom of Pocklington Canal—'helping to reverse this decline and in turn see an increase in other wildlife such as dragonflies'—and dumping it on the land it is killing all the living nymphs of countless dragonflies.

The larva/nymph of the larger dragonfly can exist for up to five years, in the canal or clinging to weeds—that CaRT in its ignorance is also removing—and even that of the smaller dragonfly can live up to three years in the water until it eventually surfaces to emerge from its skin as a dragonfly, that then mates, produces eggs, that sink to start the cycle all over again, as of course does the damselfly.

But alas, with Canal & River Trust barging in and dredging their habitat many of the future dragonflies it boasts about will be killed as they are dumped on dry land.

 

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I think CRT are absolutely right to to emphasise their rôle in this. If they don't persuade Government to renew their grant at current real value levels then the first people who will suffer will be boaters. Running a linear environmental park is a damn site cheaper than facilitating a 2000 mile navigation system for 35,000 boats.

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34 minutes ago, Orwellian said:

 Running a linear environmental park is a damn site cheaper than facilitating a 2000 mile navigation system for 35,000 boats.

Or even a dam site !

 

Funds needed. I don't see any billionaires doing the philanthropy/tax avoidance thing. 

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