Memorandum submitted by Groundwork London
THE REGENERATION AND RESTORATION ROLE OF
BRITISH WATERWAYS
SUMMARY:
— From the industrial revolution, the
London canal network played a crucial part in the economic development
of the Capital and of Britain as a whole. Its restoration posed
formidable challenges, coinciding with a complex set of new regeneration
objectives during a period of rapid economic, social and environmental
change.
— British Waterways has achieved conspicuous
success as a key player in the regeneration of the Capital by
working through partnerships with public, private and third sector
agencies. This willingness to build partnerships was well illustrated
by the London Waterways Partnership, with Groundwork and others,
tackling economic renewal and environmental improvement opportunities
by engaging communities throughout 50 miles of waterway corridors.
— In the operating environment of a
global city region that reflects continuing economic growth and
rapid demographic changes, the waterways must again play a major
part in regeneration and renewal, including current large scale
challenges.
— By demonstrating the potential for
new roles for historic waterways, British Waterways is securing
a viable future for them. But there will always need to be realism
about priorities for the use of limited resources to achieve a
balance between many desirable objectives, as London's case has
demonstrated.
LONDON'S
CANAL NETWORK
1. London's navigable waterways played a
seminal part in the development of the Capital City during the
industrial revolution, both in terms of its own industrial growth,
and as the crucial conduit for goods and trade moving through
London between the new industrial heartlands of Britain and overseas
via the Thames. The London canal network therefore had a fundamental
impact on the evolution of Britain during a period of massive
economic and social change.
2. A two-hundred year old legacy of canal
construction and decades of former neglect have presented British
Waterways (BW) with a formidable set of challenges. Until the
1970's the canals in London were largely closed to public access,
although fences merely increased the dangers from unauthorised
access and antisocial behaviour. Opening up this invaluable network
of corridors to create accessible open space has required a multi-faceted
approach to regeneration, in which physical restoration, enhancement
of towpaths and access points, the needs of leisure and tourism,
the renewal or re-use of industrial and commercial sites, and
the often conflicting demands of pedestrians, cyclists, residential
moorings and ecology have all had to be accommodated. While contributing
to Government policy on sustainable communities, BW has been required
to do so within a culture of commercial viability and economic
sustainability.
3. In the Capital, the tasks of restoration
and regeneration have not been conducted against a background
of a largely constant operating environment. The huge economic
growth of London itself in recent decades, especially in the key
development zones of the Heathrow Corridor, West London, Paddington
Basin, Kings Cross, the City Fringe, the Lower Lea Valley, Limehouse
and Docklands—all coinciding with the historic navigable
waterway corridors—has created a burgeoning set of commercial
challenges and opportunities. They carry with them equally large
social and ecological expectations, from population growth and
diversity, and high density living conditions in a global city
region.
4. BW's response to these drivers for change
has been based on partnerships, both social and commercial. The
success of that policy is manifest in the remarkable changes achieved
over the past decade throughout the canal and waterway corridors.
Much remains to be done, and expectations are constantly rising
(including opportunities to move waste by water); but BW has demonstrated
its ability to adapt to changing circumstances and to work with
others to secure sustainable regeneration.
RESTORATION AND
REGENERATION THROUGH
PARTNERSHIPS
5. In the case of Groundwork[5],
that commitment to a partnership approach is now encapsulated
in a national Memorandum of understanding, recognising the shared
principles and objectives of two different organisations seeking
to achieve similar regeneration and renewal aims for the benefit
of the public. It reflects close practical co-operation on restoration
projects in many areas of Britain over a long period, in which
the respective strengths of the two organisations have been combined.
6. In London, BW's willingness to work in
partnership with Groundwork and others was demonstrated by the
creation of the London Waterway Partnership, a seven year programme
of regeneration along 50 miles of waterway corridors, through
which £10 million of Government funding was turned into nearly
£40 million of regeneration value. As the accountable body,
BW led an effective partnership with Groundwork and several public
agencies, 15 local authorities and a large number of community
groups to achieve an integrated programme of economic investment,
community engagement and environmental improvement.
7. The working alliances forged through
that regeneration initiative have since become building blocks
for constructing wider, long term solutions to aspects of other
major regeneration challenges in London including, currently,
elements of the East London regeneration programme for the 2012
Olympic Park site.
CONCLUSION
8. The role it has played, as one of the
key regeneration and renewal agencies in the development of the
Capital, has clearly illustrated BW's commitment to rebuilding
a viable future for historic waterways. For that future to be
secured, there will always need to be realism about priorities
for the use of limited resources to achieve a balance between
many desirable objectives, as London's case has demonstrated.
Groundwork London
March 2008
5 Groundwork is the UK's leading regeneration charity,
sponsored by Government and working in partnership with local
authorities, the private sector, NDPBs and NGOs, to help build
sustainable communities in areas of need through joint environmental
action with local people. Back
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