Wednesday 21 October

Today's news from the web

Thieves use canal for getaway expressandstar.com

Metal thieves set up a makeshift jetty and used a canal barge to make off with five tons of aluminium from a Black Country firm. Workers at Impalloy Ltd in Bloxwich were stunned to discover the metal had been carried from outside the foundry down a slippy, steep embankment, through a fence and loaded on to a boat on the Wyrley and Essington Canal. ...
Grant bid for tunnel visitor centre expressandstar.com

A bid has been made for a multi-million pound visitor centre at the Dudley Canal Tunnel, it was announced today. The revamped site could open as soon as 2012. ...
First canoe trail to be created news.bbc.co.uk

Scotland's first official canoe trail is to be created along 62 miles of waterways from Fort William to Inverness. ...
BW Newark Millgate yard goes up for sale waterscape.com

Bw recently secured planning permission for the construction of 69 homes on the disused waterway yard and is this week sending marketing material to developers to identify a suitable candidate for delivery of the scheme. ...
Reeling Audlem businesses and boaters hit out at permanent moorings closures crewechronicle.co.uk

Boat owners and businesses at Audlem are up in arms over a new British Waterways policy which will see the village’s permanent moorings closed for good. ...

Huge kelpie canal plan 'improved' news.bbc.co.uk

Designers behind a project to create a giant horse head boat lift and extend the Forth and Clyde Canal have revealed changes to their original plans. ...
British Waterways celebrates volunteering waterscape.com

British Waterways is celebrating the importance of volunteers to the nation’s canals and rivers by recognising ten groups across the regions whose work has dramatically benefited the waterways over the past 12 months. ...
New bridge over Regent's canal to create walking and cycling greenway road.cc

People walking and taking their bikes through Mile End Park will get the chance to sample a brand new bridge from today with the official opening of the Sustrans Connect2 Bridge across the Regents Canal in Tower Hamlets. The bridge is part of what will eventually become a two-mile greenway linking Bethnal Green through to Victoria Park and the Olympic Park. ...

Support voiced for Wey & Arun getsurrey.co.uk

The results of a public consultation just mounted in Shalford by the Wey & Arun Canal Trust revealed that more than 90% of those responding, many of whom were Bramley residents, were in favour of restoring the canal with only 6.7% opposed to the plan. ...
Mixed fortunes for canal firms two years after breach southwalesargus.co.uk

Two YEARS after the Monmouthshire-Brecon canal burst its banks at Gilwern and there have been mixed fortunes for two businesses who reply on the canal for survival. ...
Historic bridge to undergo repairs thisisderbyshire.co.uk

A 200-YEAR-OLD bridge that was damaged after a trailer smashed through it and plunged into the canal below is to be rebuilt more than a year after the incident. ...
Photos reveal changing river oxfordmail.co.uk

A MAJOR exhibition of Thames pictures by Victorian photographer Henry Taunt has reached his home city. ...

BW agrees Tardebigge cottage residents can buy their homes redditchstandard.co.uk

Residents of Tardebigge New Wharf cottages finally have some good news after British Waterways agreed to their requests regarding the sale of their homes. ...

Culture minister visits Purton Hulks waterscape.com

Last Thursday (8 October 2009), Friends of Purton welcomed an impromptu visit to Purton Hulks by the minister for culture, media and sport, Margaret Hodge MBE, who took time out from her busy schedule to see the largest ships graveyard in mainland Britain. ...
Another canalside development for Burton burtonmail.co.uk

Councillors say the development, adjacent to the Trent and Mersey Canal, has long been expected, but warn that added infrastructure will be needed to make it viable. ...

BW board appointments media-newswire.com

Environment Minister Huw Irranca-Davies has announced the re-appointment of John Bridgeman CBE, TD, and Nigel Hugill to the Board of British Waterways....

Porpoise spotted in river shows waterways are thriving waterscape.com

A rare sighting of a porpoise was spotted along the River Ouse just outside of Selby on 29 September, following a sighting by a passing leisure boater. ...
Thames visitor centre wins award oxfordmail.co.uk

The new King’s Lock Visitor Centre on the River Thames, near Wolvercote, was another project to receive one of the eight plaques awarded. The centre, built with recycled and low carbon materials, was the brainchild of lock keeper Leigh Fenton and relief lock keeper Sarah Markham. ...
MP demands better treatment for boat owners solihullnews.net

"Boat owners, despite paying their taxes and a licence too, seem to get second class treatment. They are victims of crime, the towpaths leading to their boats are in a serious state of disrepair and British Waterways’ policing of who holds a license seems ineffective."...
BW escapes property sell-off blogs.ft.com

The first plans included several property-based businesses such as the QE2 Centre, British Waterways and Land Registry (which alone lost £129m last year). Those three now seem to be out of the list. ...

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