Latest news with #CanalAndRiverTrust
BBC News
23-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Hempsted parents call for 'temporary measure' on canal bridge
Parents are calling for temporary measures to reopen a damaged bridge amid school run Hempsted Bridge, which previously provided pedestrian access over the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal, was closed by Gloucestershire Highways on April 22 due to safety found the tarmac on the structure had worn away, exposing the wooden Kirsty said the closure is placing added strain on her son, who is preparing for his GCSEs, as he now faces an extra 30-minute walk each day. But, a Gloucestershire County Council spokesperson said the bridge is likely to remain closed until planned work is completed in July. And a Canal and River Trust spokesperson has apologised for the inconvenience caused by the closure, the Local Democracy Service reported. They said: "Having secured the funding needed, we're currently waiting for specialist material to be delivered before we remove the current bridge surface and deck and replace it with a new timber deck on behalf of the council." Kirsty, whose children attend Ribston High School and Crypt School in Hempsted, said the closure has created a "long old walk" for her kids."My son is in the middle of his GCSEs - the additional pick ups have had a real impact on all our lives," she said. Jasmine's son also attends The Crypt School and is completing his GCSEs. She told the BBC the bridge closed with "no warning" just before children returned back to school after the Easter said: "My son is doing 25 GCSE exams this summer - adding extra stress by him having to walk a long distance to school isn't needed."The solution for us would be a temporary fix [of the bridge] over the May half term - kids could then utilise the bridge for the remainder of the term and elevate the pressure on parents and students." Grandmother Jen, whose grandson attends The Crypt School, said she's had to cancel her holiday to be readily available for pick said: "It's now virtually impossible for children to walk to and from school."Dibs Bucknell, the Hempsted Residents Association's Highways representative, said residents are disappointed that despite constant emails over three years, nothing was done before about the deteriorating state of the said: "Only when the Hempsted Residents Association involved the media did anything happen.""Surely a thin steel plate can be laid in the centre to allow access. We have written to our MP to ask him to follow it up," he added.
BBC News
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Thousands expected at Crick Boat Show 2025
Thousands of people are expected at a major boating festival celebrating the best of Britain's inland annual Crick Boat Show features more than 200 exhibitors, live music and food stalls alongside a vast showcase of canal in its 25th year, the event near Daventry in Northamptonshire is the UK's largest inland waterways Hardy from the Canal and River Trust said: "We're expecting 26,000 people over the course of the weekend and it's brilliant there's still that level of interest in boating and our canals." More than 30 new boats are due to be displayed this year, as well as nine historic working of the highlights is seeing huge narrowboats being lifted into position by Hardy added: "There are some boats that cannot reach here by water, so they have to be craned in. "Some of the narrowboats are brought by trailer and then are craned in as well. You see some heavy loads up and down the motorway."Show director Peter Johns added: "The build period takes 11 days. It doesn't stop. The planning [for next year's event] starts almost immediately."The Crick Boat Show runs from 24 to 26 May. Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
The Guardian
18-05-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Cuts to England's canal network could put lives at risk, experts say
Lives may be at risk if ministers proceed with cuts to England's languishing canal network, experts have said. The climate crisis and a lack of funding means ageing assets could flood entire towns and villages, an investigation for the parliamentary magazine the House has found. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), which provides a quarter of funding for the Canal and River Trust (CRT), is understood to be facing cuts at the June spending review. Government funding cuts of hundreds of millions of pounds to the CRT, which manages most of the UK's inland waterways, are already in the pipeline. This puts the future of the waterways, already underfunded, at risk. When they are properly looked after and restored, they can provide immense benefits for people and nature, supporting otters, kingfishers and dragonflies as well as barge users and walkers. A 2019 report, Waterways in Progress, published by the Inland Waterways Association (IWA), memorably describes Britain's canals as 'a linear national park'. The charity's 2023-24 annual report emphasised the 'continued effect of climate change taking its toll on our ageing canal infrastructure,' reflecting on how 'following prolonged hot dry weather the summer before, a succession of winter storms caused significant damage, with an aggregated impact of £9m in emergency works'. CRT is facing serious financial pressure. The report shows a shortfall in funding, with an income of £237,300,000, but a total expenditure of £252,400,000. The CRT does not only look after canals themselves, but weirs and reservoirs. There have already been problems with its ageing infrastructure; in Derbyshire in 2019 a dam at the Toddbrook reservoir nearly burst, leading to the town of Whaley Bridge being evacuated. About 1,500 people were instructed to leave their homes immediately after heavy rain caused a large section of a nearby dam spillway at the reservoir to fall away. Emergency crews pumped water away from the reservoir and sandbags were dropped from RAF helicopters. A worst-case scenario predicted that the whole structure could collapse, wiping out the town. Charlie Norman, the director of campaigns and public affairs at the Inland Waterways Association, told the House: 'It is quite terrifying how that incident could have ended: the sheer volumes of water contained in the reservoir presented an immediate danger to life. Our internal research suggests the volume of water was comparable to 551 Olympic pools, or equivalent to the daily water consumption of 8.6 million people. That volume of water is unimaginably powerful.' For the first time, the IWA has warned about the risk to life that can come from a lack of maintenance of canals: 'It is not an overstatement to marvel that so far there has been no loss of life – ageing infrastructure is expensive to maintain without anything going wrong, and that's the point: investment now will save money in the near and distant future … When adding up the costs, we should be thankful that those costs for the moment don't include loss of life'. Richard Parry, the chief executive of the Canal and River Trust, said without a funding solution, the canals could eventually dry up due to the climate crisis, and this poses safety issues too. He added: 'Who knows what the impact of that would be? I mean, our fear is not just the ecology would be irrevocably harmed, but you probably also get canal walls drying up and collapsing, there's the safety aspect too.' A Defra spokesperson said: 'Our canals provide a wide range of benefits, such as connecting people to nature. That is why we are providing more than £500m of grant funding to the Canal and River Trust between now and 2037.'
