Memorandum submitted by Wiltshire County
Council
I understand that the Select Committee for Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs is to hold a hearing on British Waterways'
role in canal restoration and regeneration with particular reference
to their recent withdrawal from the Cotswold Canals Partnership.
My current role is the Cabinet Member for Environment,
Transport and Economic Development for Wiltshire County Council
and in that capacity I am a member of the Cotswold Canals Partnership
and the Kennet & Avon Canal Partnership and chair the Wilts
& Berks Canal Partnership.
I was also the Company Secretary of the Kennet
& Avon Canal Trust from 1992 to 2007 and was therefore able
to see at first hand the benefits arising from the Kennet &
Avon Canal Partnership which led to the £25 million Heritage
Lottery Fund grant and the completion of that waterway's restoration.
The economic benefits predicted for full restoration have been
achieved and indeed exceeded. The same, and more, could be achieved
by the restoration of the Cotswolds Canals, particularly in the
Stroud area.
On all three partnerships we have found working
with British Waterways a positive experience and a good example
of true partnership.
I sincerely hope that British Waterways' recent
decision to withdraw from the Cotswolds Canals Partnership—arising
it seems to me from the restrictions on their funding and the
major breach on the Monmouth and Brecon canal—will not constrain
their future involvement in the restoration and economic regeneration
of canal corridors. The Kennet & Avon Canal experience demonstrates
forcibly that funds invested in such restoration partnerships
are well spent and do result in economic regeneration for the
whole area.
Fleur de Rhé-Philipe
Cabinet Member for Environment, Transport and Economic
Development
Wiltshire County Council
March 2008
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