People's 50 Million towpath users

The Peak Forest Canal towpath near Marple, 17th Nov 2007

A couple of weeks ago I hadn't even heard of this Peoples 50 Million business.  But like an old man at a funeral I now can't stop thinking about it.

Voting begins today.

I browsed all four of the options on the official website yesterday, and found it hard to understand what any of them were offering.  No maps, no clear outlines.  Just four embarrassingly vague, waffly 'star' videos.  And the associated 'summaries' weren't informative.

Only one official website was halfway interesting, and that was the Black Country Urban Park bid.  I'm keen on maps, and only theirs (here) was remotely informative.  It's the only one that even slightly explains what their whole project offers beyond warm, fuzzy benefits.

There's a nice canal-oriented video here on the Express & Star site explaining the potential for development around the Wolverhampton canal basin.  (The Express & Star is excellent at integrating video into its news reporting) 

The Brian Blessed video for Sherwood is an embarrassment that should kill that project's hopes.  "I'm not interested in b-b-Brian Blessed!  I'm not interested in being a celebrity in some show!  Thhhp!" he shouted.

I still haven't a clue what the Eden Project expansion The Edge is offering.  It sounds like a New Labour promise:  Because we are doing well now, we'll do better in the future, and this is the way we will live to do it.

I suspect Connect2 will win, because in the oldest tradition of democracy, it doesn't offer a grand vision, it promises half a loaf of bread to each voter. Everyone will get a little more towpath and another little cycle bridge near their house. 

For about £2 a vote, I suppose that's not a bad promise.  Connect2 has no grand design, it's a 'join up the dots' thing.  You find your local scheme first, and then they say that the other dots will somehow connect. 

Connect2 has 79 'local schemes', with 20 more 'held in reserve in case any of the others are unable to complete'.  For example:

In the case of The Peak Forest Canal, the condition of the towpath is so bad and the links into the surrounding communities so poor that it is an excellent example of how a reconstruction together with new links, focussed on the centres of the nearby populations, will bring about a whole new idea of how to travel in the area.

All very vague, and this is one of the 'reserve' ones that won't necessarily go ahead anyway.  The Peak Forest Canal needs dredging more than towpath works, but I can't find anything on Connect2 that offers canal maintenance. I don't count a cycle track as canal work.

My photo shows the Peak Forest towpath near Marple a week ago. Your local 'towing path' [(c) IWA] mileage may vary.

No question in my view, all canal boaters (and most towpath users) should plump for the Black Country Urban Park.

Comments

[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.