Memorandum submitted by The Kennet &
Avon Canal Trust
1. SUMMARY
We understand that The Environment, Food and
Rural Affairs Committee will hold a one-off evidence session on
British Waterways (BW), to follow up its work in this area last
year (Seventh Report of Session 2006-07, HC 345-I). The Committee
will take oral evidence from both Defra and British Waterways
to examine BW's regeneration and restoration role, with particular
reference to BW's decision to withdraw from the Cotswold Canal
Partnership.
The Kennet and Avon Canal Trust considers that
the Government has not taken due account of the environmental,
social and economic benefits that would accrue to the communities
through which the Canal passes as a result of the successful completion
of the project. These benefits are now in doubt because of the
withdrawal of British Waterways as the lead partner.
We would ask that the Department reconsiders
its decision.
2. THE KENNET
AND AVON
CANAL
By way of example to the Department when considering
its decision in the light of our submission and others, we draw
on the parallels offered by the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust and
its partners including British Waterways, in demonstrating the
achievements obtained by pursuing a similar project as the Cotswold
Canal to completion. All parties to the K&A partnership, have
successfully restored and returned the canal to the nation in
attractive condition and working order, as a vital resource for
employment, leisure and Tourism. The Kennet and Avon Canal which
runs for 87 miles and connects the River Avon at Bristol with
the River Thames at Reading was in its heyday and is once more,
a waterway of strategic importance connecting London with Bristol
and forming part of a group of canals in the South West which
are a focus for restoration (the Wiltshire and Berkshire, the
Cotswolds, the Herefordshire and Gloucestershire, the Exeter,
the Bude, the River Tone and the River Parrett).
The culmination of the successful restoration
of the K&A was its official re-opening to through navigation
in 1990 by HM The Queen. However, the waterway still suffered
from significant and long-standing structural problems of water
leakage and embankment stability which, unless they were addressed,
would have threatened future usage of the canal.
A second major phase of restoration was subsequently
undertaken, following a successful £25 million bid made in
1996 to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for funding to complete
the restoration of the canal. Matched funding, totalling an additional
£4.24 million, was provided by British Waterways, the Kennet
and Avon Canal Trust and riparian local authorities. Work began
in 1997 and involved:
— Ensuring an adequate water supply
to sections of the canal though Devizes, including the Caen Hill
Lock Flight
— Stabilising the embankment within
the Bath Valley
— Improved access and interpretation
plus nature conservation, heritage and landscaping projects throughout
the length of the waterway
Work was completed in December 2002 and the
works completion was celebrated by the visit of HRH the Prince
of Wales in May 2003.
3. EVIDENCE OF
THE BENEFITS
OF A
SUCCESSFUL RESTORATION
A successful restoration brings many tangible
benefits many are achieved during the life time of the restoration
as well as afterwards. The Kennet and Avon Canal Trust and its
partners led the way in canal restoration and the understanding
of its benefits. After the successful completion of the Heritage
Lottery Fund Project, in the process, gaining a sustainable future
for the waterway, research has found that there are significant
National, Regional and Local benefits.
The following is just an extract of the recent
research—Ecotec 2006
The economic impacts associated with the Kennet
and Avon Canal are substantial, and have grown significantly since
2002:
— Tourism and leisure activity along
the canal corridor supports a diverse array of tourism and leisure
businesses and connected employment in the areas through which
the canal passes. Almost half of all tourism and leisure businesses
within the canal corridor say that the canal is important to their
business. On average, around 10-20% of the turnover of tourism
and leisure businesses within the canal corridor is likely to
be attributable to expenditure by canal users. This expenditure
directly supports between 770 and 930 full-time jobs in the tourism
and leisure economy within the canal corridor.
— Visitor numbers to the Kennet and
Avon Canal have increased between 2002-2005. Evidence suggests
in particular that the number of informal visitors to the canal
towpath has increased at a greater rate than countryside visits
nationally. Tourism and leisure businesses report that informal
visitors to the canal have become increasingly important to their
businesses since 2002.
— In the future, the upward trends
in visitor numbers and consequent expenditure are likely to continue.
A number of marina developments are in the pipeline, and should
they go ahead, these developments will relieve pressure on the
substantial waiting lists for moorings that currently exist. Over
one third of businesses say that the canal restoration has benefited
their business, while 18% believe that the canal will become more
important to them in the future.
— The Kennet and Avon Canal continues
to act as a significant attraction to property developers, despite
the planning restrictions that exist along substantial stretches
of the canal's route. In the future, the canal will form the centrepiece
of the redevelopment of Newbury town centre.
The Kennet and Avon Canal continues to deliver
significant economic benefits to the local economies through which
it passes. These economic benefits have increased since 2002,
and, based on current trends, are likely to continue to increase
in the future.
4. THE COTSWOLDS
CANALS PROJECT
Direct parallels can be drawn from The Kennet
and Avon Canal's regeneration. A similar model is being used for
the regeneration of the Cotswold Canal and similar benefits are
expected by that Partnership within the communities the canal
passes through.
We submit that no other form of investment of
a similar sum of money as is involved in the funding cut currently
inflicted, will provide such a plural and inclusive form of long
lasting benefit on the scale the Cotswold Canal Partnership are
working towards either in its adopted timescale or in any other,
shorter or longer.
It should also not be forgotten that the economic
model used in the restoration work on this particular Canal, relies
on the funding of British Waterways and money donated via the
Cotswold Canal Trust and other community channels to act as a
primer. These funds liberate a far greater resource in labour
and volunteer effort applied in the restoration of the Canal.
That effort in turn acts as a catalyst in the economic growth
of the Canal corridor. If DEFRA had to go out and procure the
same effort it would have to pay several times more than the current
value of the cut for the same work. In short DEFRA could not obtain
the same social and economic value for its investment as it does
through British Waterway's participation in the Cotswold Partnership.
The Kennet and Avon Canal Trust and its partners
therefore object strongly to the decision that British Waterways
withdraws from the Cotswolds Canals Partnership.
It would be short sighted and put in jeopardy
the long term economic and social prospects of the communities
through which the Cotswold Canal passes. We appeal to DEFRA to
consider the investment cut not only in strict monetary terms
but in terms of how much additional resource and effort that the
cut in funds actually represents and which will now go to waste
leaving a committed community without a major focus and a loss
of purpose whose value is far greater to the region than the face
value of the monetary cut.
Alongside the potentially crippling loss in
momentum within the project built up over many years of dedicated
focus which the cuts will bring at a stroke, employment will be
lost, volunteer workforces will dissipate to the loss of the community,
valuable leisure amenities will not now be created. Employment
prospects will directly diminish in the region as a result.
We feel that ways should be found to allow dedicated
finance to be allocated to British Waterways which will allow
them to continue their participation in the group and to continue
to deliver the many benefits which the community has already benefited
from as a result of this project progressing and those which await
a rural community on completion of such a project, in line with
those that we along the Kennet and Avon Canal have achieved.
The Kennet & Avon Canal Trust
March 2008
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