Strong-arm tactics used to solve canal scheme problem - Derby Evening Telegraph
There's a £150,000 grant to recruit a 'project manager' for the Derby & Sandiacre Canal Trust. £60,000 is coming from the Trust, with the balance from the DDEP.
That works out to £60k/pa, but the story is probably misleading and it's perhaps not just to pay a salary. Does 'project manager' equates to 'engineer' in old canalspeak? In that case, the new appointee could claim be following in the illustrious footsteps of Benjamin Outram (history of the old Derby Canal here).
The headline is a bad pun. The 'strong-arm' refers to the bizarre Derby Arm boat lift designed by Alec Dodd, which has been mooted for a couple of years. What a superb folly it would be - a real counterbalance to the Falkirk Wheel and Anderton Boat Lift.
Alec Dodd estimates R&D costs at £50k and construction costs of possibly 6-10M, perhaps one-sixth of the total restoration. It's not the cheapest way of bridging the river, but it's a grand talking-point, and any qualified engineer will be worth far more than £60k p.a.
The only problem I see is that the blue sky is impossibly optimistic. Perhaps it's a metaphor for the project.
I wonder if they will mention this project at the official launch of the nearby Mercia Marina on Dec 6th. It would make a wonderful sideshow to the meeting, since the new marina would be the closest to this site.
