Memorandum submitted by Cathy Cooke and
Dr Geraint Coles (BW 67)
1. The Chesterfield Canal Partnership recognises
the positive role that BW has taken in developing and delivering
the priorities of the Partnership where they are aligned to BWs
core business.
2. It is to BWs credit that restoration
of the sections in BWs ownership has been achieved. BW has looked
to Local Authority partners to meet the costs of new waterway
management. This has had an immediate effect on authorities' ability
to finance their core contribution to the further development
of the canal. Business development by BW that brings regeneration
and justifies the restoration cost, will raise income with which
to manage such new lengths, but financial constraints within BW
appear to prohibit this except in high profile urban settings.
3. Concerns about the long term responsibility
for upkeep and repair can jeopardise the securing of external
funds and dampen enthusiasm for canal restoration. The contribution
of canals to navigation, conservation and tourism is widely acknowledged.
Inland waterways can also be a considerable asset to social inclusion
and economic and cultural regeneration, and can contribute to
the creation of healthier, safer, sustainable communities. By
developing the network's role in meeting these wider agendas,
BW would facilitate the expenditure of public sector funds to
maintain the waterway infrastructure.
4. The Chesterfield Canal Partnership is
exploring alternative mechanisms for funding the management of
the canal network. The feasibility is being explored of further
developing the capacity of the voluntary sector, and of setting
up businesses that will reinvest in the canal and its communities
as social enterprises. With land capital assets being secured
at the restoration phase, development of businesses will generate
income with which to manage the canal for the long term. This
model mirrors BW's entrepreneurial use of its property assets,
whilst retaining the benefit locally and being responsive to local
need and opportunity. BW could offer much expertise to this process
and assist its partners in managing the network without assuming
liabilities or draining the public purse. BW resources to support
this growth of social enterprises would reflect the government's
endeavours to promote community empowerment and ownership.
5. To that end we would urge BW to consider
the third sector as more than free labour—we would like
to see BW engagement with local communities to enable then to
develop waterside locations and, if necessary, long term lease
or asset locked sale to communities of key land parcels to enable
them to develop their own facilities and gain benefit from the
ongoing waterways renaissance. The perception (whether deserved
or not) that BW is only focussed on securing significant deals
with the largest companies is damaging to local interests who
have enthusiasm, capability and time but little in the way of
capital or formal training.
6. We would argue that the maintenance and
development of the waterways, especially the underused waterways
of the north east, requires more than the current rather top-down
strategy employed by British Waterways. Considerable investment
is being made in community development and economic regeneration
in those areas where canals are currently underdeveloped and we
would suggest that BW would benefit from engaging fully with this
new regeneration framework—working from the bottom up as
well as the top down.
BACKGROUND AND
EXPERIENCE
Cathy Cooke: Member of Technical Officers Group
of Chesterfield Canal Partnership for the last 10 years, navigation
manager of Derbyshire County Council section of Chesterfield Canal
1996-2003, appointed Member of Inland Waterways Advisory Committee
(IWAC, formerly IWAAC).
Dr Geraint Coles: Since 2004 Development Manager
for the Chesterfield Canal Partnership. Partnership representative
on the Association of Inland Waterway Navigation Authorities.
Until 2004, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Archaeology at the
University of Edinburgh. Research interests included Industrial
Archaeology and the management and presentation of Cultural Resources.
The Chesterfield Canal Partnership is made up
of local authorities, statutory and non-statutory bodies, the
voluntary sector and private enterprise, and is fully committed
to the protection, restoration and development of the Chesterfield
Canal. All members share the belief that the canal constitutes
a major natural history and heritage feature, with the potential
to significantly enhance the recreational, tourism and business
life of the region. The Partnership works to protect and enhance
the natural history and historic value of the canal, whilst promoting
the development of its business and amenity potential to benefit
all sectors of the regional community.
Cathy Cooke and Dr Geraint Coles
March 2007
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