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« Phoenixx and missing dogs | Main | The Derby Canal Arm »

Monday, 26 November 2007

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Lucie White

Why is the Eden Project the bookies favourite? Isn't it a commercial venture - and don't they make enough money out of those extortionate entrance fees to pay for their own additions?

Richard Fairhurst

I'm not sure how you can have missed the maps on the Connect2 site! Every project has a PDF map highlighting exactly the location of the proposals - Banbury, for example, is at http://carbon.sustransconnect2.org.uk/files/projects/129_pdf.pdf ; the red shows where the bridge is to be built.

As for dredging - no, of course it doesn't promise that, and nor should it; dredging is a core BW activity that should be funded out of core BW grant. But what Connect2 does promise is a bunch of schemes, such as the one in Banbury, which will get more people enjoying their local canal - and that is the only way, I fear, that the accursed DEFRA will ever be convinced that the waterways, dredging and all, are a cause worth paying for.

Declaration of interest: one of the Connect2 schemes will replace the low-level obstruction over the entrance to the Melton Mowbray Navigation (off the Soar at Syston) with a new bridge offering navigable headroom. As one of the founders of the MMN restoration, it's a scheme very close to my heart.

Anyway, given that the Eden Project is the bookies' favourite, why not vote for both Connect2 and the Black Country - once by e-mail, once by phone? (Or even once by home e-mail, once by work e-mail, once by landline, once by mobile?)

Sheila Ashton

the Sherwood bid is about so much more than trees – it’s about restoring the greenwood, yes, it’s also about conserving an important and irreplaceable wildlife habitat, about creating iconic eco-friendly new facilies – FREE of charge and within 2 hours travel time of an estimated 45per cent of the English population. It’s also about creating one of Europe’s biggest walking, cycling and riding networks – 90 per cent traffic free and stile free to allow maximum freedom for people with disabilities – linked in to the national cycle network and public transport links, making sustainable commuter routes across a massive landscape a reality. There’s so much to this project it’s hard to get it into a nutshell (forgive the pun) – and the icing on the cake, of course, is Robin Hood – here’s a way of engaging future generations and capturing the imagination while helping them enjoy FREE healthy recreation, reconnect with Nature and learn more about their heritage!

Lucie White

Connect 2 is all about communities and improving their access to each other and important places. Sustrans is a charity promoting "sustainable transport", which means walkers, cyclists etc., not users of diesel (are there any horse-drawn narrowboats out there still?) Where you canal boaters will benefit is when you moor up, get your bike off the boat or put your boots on and set off to find provisions or a place of interest, thus benefitting from these towpath improvements. Sorry no dredging from this charity - much as it's needed!
Thanks for promoting "The People's 50 Million..." and for mentioning Connect 2. I hope everyone out there will vote - and it shouldn't cost as much as £2 as no profit is being made on the voting.
I'm only a wannabe boater but I do enjoy reading your blog, Andrew.

Max Sinclair

The Black Country site shows pictures of the propsed reopening of the network of canals under Dudley in the limestone caverns. Having been involved with this project since 1960 I would plead for full support, the system is spectacular and would be a credit for all canal enthusiasts, and of world wide interest.

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