Submission submitted by Kirklees Metropolitan
Council (BW 84)
I write in response to your invitation to submit
evidence to the Select Committee on this matter. I can inform
you that the Council has formally considered the implications
of funding cutbacks at British Waterways imposed by the Department
of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and resolved that the Leader
of the Council write to the Treasury. A copy of that letter is
attached. A letter on similar lines has also been forwarded to
local MPs.
This Council values the contribution that canals
make to our community here in Kirklees. Over many years the Council
has worked closely with BWB and other partners to secure the re-opening
of the historic Huddersfield Narrow Canal—achieved with
the help of Millennium Commission support in 2000—and to
promote the increasing use of this canal and our other waterways
owned and managed by British Waterways. We believe that canals
are not just about the use of water. They form strong linear links
which we are including in a network of green corridors which are
aimed at safeguarding and improving the environment and they also
provide valuable settings for visitor activity, physical regeneration
and through encouraging leisure use contribute to the health agenda.
We look forward to a continuing positive relationship with BWB
and its staff in the future—to the benefit of our residents,
businesses, investors, visitors and canal users.
I hope that your Committee will be able to include
these representations in your consideration and be able in your
report to make positive recognition of the continuing importance
and value of canals into the future.
Kirklees Metropolitan Council
March 2007
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