£100 million extra, for waterways...

[carlt]

Don't shoot the messenger...

 

Clicky

[cotswoldsman]

i did catch something about that on the radio this morning. Does not seem to include that new charity that has been set up.

[oldironsides]

Waterways? Rivers, rivers. What about canals? No mention in that article.

[carlt]

Waterways? Rivers, rivers. What about canals? No mention in that article.

Rivers are waterways.

 

I caught the back end of the story, on radio 4, this morning, which mentioned waterways.

 

Googling turned up this story that specifies rivers.

[Allan(nb Albert)]

Don't shoot the messenger...

 

Clicky

 

Caroline Spelman is, of course, the person responsible for all the Defra cuts including BW's grant in aid and the waterways ministers boss.

 

Perhaps we all need to move to her constituency of Meriden -

 

MP gets action on bridge repairs

[magpie patrick]

Am I alone in reading "remove redundant dams" as "sweep away a vast amount of mill archaeology"?

 

I seem to recall the residents of Breton getting hot under the collar when a similar scheme was proposed that would sweep away all the locks on the Pontivy- Brest section of the Canal de Nantes a Brest

[carlt]

Am I alone in reading "remove redundant dams" as "sweep away a vast amount of mill archaeology"?

 

No, sadly, you're not.

 

To remove dams and mill races would be to alter, possibly detrimentally, a local habitat.

 

Man's presence is not always damaging to nature but his intervention, on its behalf, often is.

 

Being active in various wildlife organisations I get frustrated at some of my fellow members' inability to see old, to them derelict, structures as 'habitat'....unless a bat has been spotted there, in the past 150 years, of course.

 

The same can be said of some boaters who can't see past their interest/obsession, of course.

[furnessvale]

Waterways? Rivers, rivers. What about canals? No mention in that article.

 

Thank God there is no mention of canals. I think I am quite "green" but when the lunatic fringe get going your chances of navigating any given waterway diminish.

 

George ex nb Alton retired

[carlt]

I think I am quite "green" but when the lunatic fringe get going your chances of navigating any given waterway diminish.

 

...and then become clogged up with weed and algae, limiting the amount of wildlife that can live there, anyway.

 

A well managed waterway, with boats, is a lot better habitat than an unmanaged stagnant, linear pond.

 

Have a walk down the Brownsover arm to see how an artificial waterway gets choked to death, when it stops being managed.

Edited April 13, 2011 by carlt

[Guest User]

I saw the report on BBC this morning; they seemed to be emphasising un-navigable stretches of rivers and re-colonisation by water voles and otters as the be all and end all of a scheme to improve the cleanliness of the UK's waterways. If the surreal world of BBC reportage is to be believed, this will be achieved by two volunteers planting reeds in gin-clear, fast flowing, gravel-bottomed shallow streams ...

Edited April 13, 2011 by Graham!

[Morat]

Thank God there is no mention of canals. I think I am quite "green" but when the lunatic fringe get going your chances of navigating any given waterway diminish.

 

George ex nb Alton retired

 

River Derwent, anyone?

[carlt]

River Derwent, anyone?

The river was not the habitat at risk, on that occasion, but the adjacent wetlands.

 

A good example of where boating activities could have been detrimental, to wildlife, so possibly not the best example to raise here...

Edited April 14, 2011 by carlt

[Morat]

Interesting! I don't know much about the case for/against the River Derwent and can't find much online.

[canaldrifter]

Interesting! I don't know much about the case for/against the River Derwent and can't find much online.

 

Some info here:

 

http://www.igreens.org.uk/yorkshire_derwent.htm

 

Books on the subject:

 

'Navigation on the River Derwent' is a good historical account.

 

http://www.transportdiversions.com/publicationshow.asp?pubid=2269

 

'The Yorkshire River Derwent, Moments in Time', by Ian Carstairs has a very detailed account of the legal battles, and he crows about winning against the IWA.

 

http://www.whsmith.co.uk/CatalogAndSearch/ProductDetails.aspx?productID=9781841145679

 

Yorkshire's River Derwent by J Ogden, Published by Terrence Dalton Ltd, in 1974, is a good historical and descriptive account of the river if you can find a copy.

 

Tone

Edited April 14, 2011 by canaldrifter

[carlt]

 

'The Yorkshire River Derwent, Moments in Time', by Ian Carstairs has a very detailed account of the legal battles, and he crows about winning against the IWA.

 

The winners of any campaign call it "celebrating" the losers "crowing"

[carlt]

The Yorkshire Derwent: A Case For Conservation, by Stephen Warburton is probably the definitive account of why the fight was so important but I would have no idea where to get a copy.

 

I have the original draft, which my mother typed up and I proof read.

[Morat]

After some further reading I have to say that I had no idea that the plastic bag filled, litter strewn mess I know as the River Derwent was a SSSI!

[carlt]

After some further reading I have to say that I had no idea that the plastic bag filled, litter strewn mess I know as the River Derwent was a SSSI!

As I said, the main habitat, deserving of the SSSI and international recognition of its importance, is(are?) the wetlands, adjacent to the river, though I have to say my experience of the Derwent is somewhat different to your description.

[Morat]

I walk by the Derwent regularly, but maybe not in the same place as you. The bit below Malton seems to have suffered recently which is a shame - especially as it is a SSSI in it's own right. Some details here: http://www.english-nature.org.uk/special/sssi/reportAction.cfm?report=sdrt13&category=S&reference=1003398

 

Anyway, I guess my idle day dreams of taking a canal boat up to Malton are never going to become reality. Ah well.

Edited April 15, 2011 by Morat

[canaldrifter]

The winners of any campaign call it "celebrating" the losers "crowing"

 

Yes. Boaters are decidedly the losers in this one, especially the IWA.

 

When I contacted the chair of the local IWA branch about encouraging navigation up to Stamford Bridge, his reply was, quite frankly, timid.

 

Can of worms was mentioned.

 

tone

[carlt]

Yes. Boaters are decidedly the losers in this one, especially the IWA.

 

When I contacted the chair of the local IWA branch about encouraging navigation up to Stamford Bridge, his reply was, quite frankly, timid.

 

Can of worms was mentioned.

Good.

 

There are plenty of waterways that are freely navigable and I'm glad that common sense ruled, in this case, and navigation wasn't restored.

 

There are also waterways where I think the conservationists should back off, though, and acknowledge that "creating habitat" and restricting boat movements is not "conservation" but artificial intervention.

[Morat]

In all honesty, I think the days of re-opening waterways are pretty much done. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see the Cotswold re-open and that one in Wales the name of which escapes me but it's going to be tough enough to keep up with the maintenance on the current network.

All in my novice opinion of course!

Edited April 15, 2011 by Morat