Linear park prophecy coming to pass
I CONCUR with the letter from Ray Hartshorne ( Talkback, Issue 192, October) and I link it with the comments on the following page from Cracker the horse.
It does appear to be the new policy of the Canal & River Trust to leave extensive lengths of the towing path with, as they put it, a ‘green fringe’, that is, with growth between the path and the water. I suggest readers take a look at the newly announced policy at:
https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/ specialist- teams/ maintaining- ourwaterways/vegetation-management/ mowing-the-grass/ national-mowing-trial-2021
This growth often completely prevents access for boaters to the path, for whatever reason, including emergencies. In the event that emergency access is required, having to jump off the boat on to an uncertain surface could easily lead to injuries, possibly serious ones.
Yes, it is ‘smart waterway’ attitude and is definitely resulting in ‘herding’ cruising boats into limited mooring areas. We also know from our own observed experience that there are many places where there are saplings, some almost half-grown trees of more than one year’s growth, in the towing path edge which will in time destroy the bank edge. We understood that there was an agreement to cut ‘from hedge to edge’ on the complete towing path, but that has clearly been reneged on.
The new policy of CRT has been put in place as far as I am aware without any consultation with boaters. It appears to me as a long-time committee member of a national boating club that CRT has given up just about all pretence of ‘consulting’ boaters before deciding on policy changes.
But then CRT appears to be interested only in the needs of cyclists, walkers and anglers, none of whom pay directly to the trust. (Ah, yes. They do pay something via taxation, but boaters pay that as well as licences, moorings etc.) It is now clear that the needs of boaters are considered of less importance than those of just about any other canal or towing path user or environmentalist, that is if they are considered at all, which I doubt.
Those of us who have been boating long enough to remember well British Waterways will be aware of the contrast now being observed. Many of us had at times strenuous disagreements with parts of that organisation, but at least we considered that BW understood canals and boats.
It seems clear to me, and it appears to many others too, that there are now very few staff in CRT who really have an understanding of canals and in particular boats on canals. Many of us observed some years ago that the canals were being transformed into a ‘linear theme park’, with the occasional boat to make it look pretty, and in some areas a linear housing estate. That prophecy has now come to pass, and we boaters are undeniably the victims. David Daines
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