Barnsley Canals Consortium C/O Barnsley, Dearne & Dove Canals Trust Regd
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Barnsley Canals Consortium c/o Barnsley, Dearne & Dove Canals Trust Regd. Co. No.2600350, Regd. Charity No. 1002651 39 Hill Street, Elsecar, Barnsley, S74 8EN ENTRUST No. 014718 Tel 01226 790341 www.bddct.org.uk PRESS RELEASE Barnsley Dearne & Dove Canals (the Yorkshire Waterways Link) a step nearer to restoration? The consultants Atkins (www.atkinsglobal.com ) have been appointed by the Barnsley Canals Consortium, (a grouping of Local Authorities, the Inland Waterways Association, the Royston and Carlton Community Partnership, the Barnsley Dearne & Dove Canals Trust and other interested bodies), to carry out a restoration feasibility study of the Barnsley Dearne & Dove Canals; the “Yorkshire Waterways Link”. • The Inland Waterways Association (IWA) and its West Riding Branch have generously supported the appeal. Vaughan Welch Chairman of the IWA Restoration Committee said, “the recent reopening of the Pennine Rochdale and Huddersfield Canals has put the regional spotlight on the missing Yorkshire Waterways Link; the Barnsley Dearne & Dove Canals. We must further explore the potential to exploit the abandoned former canals network of the region, to see if they can become a catalyst for regeneration and a focus for tourism activity, as has happened elsewhere in the country”. • The Calder Navigation Society has also supported the appeal and study. Keith Noble, Honorary Secretary of the Calder Navigation Society, said “Our Society was formed in 1969 to fight proposals to abandon parts of the Calder & Hebble Navigation. Not only was that campaign successful but 35 years later we have recently seen the reopening and re-connection of the previously abandoned Huddersfield Narrow and Rochdale Canals. We now look forward to seeing the Barnsley Canals fully restored too and hope that our contribution to this study will help the Barnsley Canals Consortium achieve that aim". Keith Noble of the Calder Navigation Society said “------------------“ • The feasibility study is also supported by a grant from to the Rural Target Fund of the Objective 1 Programme for South Yorkshire, funded by EAGGF and DEFRA. We are grateful to the Yorkshire Rural Community Council for their support in obtaining this grant; an award of £5,000 or 10% of the feasibility study’s cost (whichever is the less) has been granted. A spokesperson for the Yorkshire Rural Community Council said, “The Yorkshire Rural Community Council understands the wider benefits that the canal restoration can bring to local communities by improving access and recreational opportunities and in attracting visitors into an area. It is for these reasons that YRCC, through the Rural Target Fund, is happy to support the feasibility study project into the canals restoration”. • John Openshaw, Chair of the Barnsley Canals Consortium and of the Royston & Carlton Partnership said,”the Barnsley Canals Consortium, through the support of its member organisations, has highlighted the issue of canals in and around the Barnsley borough. The view of both the Barnsley Canal and the Dearne and Dove Canals as derelict waterways is being transformed. We have, through our work, begun to develop a vision and future for both the Barnsley Canal and the Dearne and Dove Canal. This vision is now becoming reality. Our study will, for the first time, confirm the route of the canals, some of which has been lost to development. We hope that once this is defined we can set in place a strategy for incremental improvement and the Consortium’s membership and other bodies we can now develop a long-term future for the Canals within Barnsley, which will bring regeneration and prosperity to the area”. • Derek Housley, chair of the Barnsley Dearne & Dove Canals Trust, ( www.bddct.org.uk ) said, “the restoration of the “Yorkshire Waterways Link” has the potential for restoration to be a means to promote tourism, spur economic development and urban renewal in the areas that it passes through. It is not just about boats and barges; it will bring benefits to walkers, cyclists and fishermen. It will bring a green finger of the countryside into the urban areas that it passes through, creating a linear park and a transport corridor, bringing bio-diversity with it along with it new employment opportunities”. He went on to say, “I envisage that with restoration of the Yorkshire Waterways Link it would become a public amenity for all to use and enjoy, for nature appreciation, for generating revenue for local economies. It would enhance the ‘remaking Barnsley’ strategy and act as a catalyst for urban and rural regeneration”. Notes for Editors • In total nearly £40,000 has been raised / pledged with contributions and / or support from :- Barnsley MBC, Barnsley Dearne & Dove Canals Trust, Calder Navigation Society, Global Grants, Inland Waterways Association and its West Riding Branch, the Royston & Carlton Community Partnership, Rural Targets, Wakefield MDC and members of the public. • The consultants Atkins has been appointed by the Barnsley Canals Consortium to carry out detailed restoration feasibility study. Extracts from the Consultants study brief can be found at www.bddct.org.uk , along with a detailed map showing the former route of the canal. • British Waterways sources state that over 20,000 jobs have been created by the restoration of waterways across the country. • For nearly sixty years, The Inland Waterways Association and its thousands of members have campaigned for the conservation, use, maintenance, restoration and sensitive development of Britain's canals and river navigations. The IWA works closely with navigation authorities, other waterway bodies, a wide range of national and local authorities, voluntary, private and public sector organisations to raise funds, lobby for support and encourage public participation. The Association also supplies voluntary labour through its subsidiary Waterway Recovery Group. More than 500 miles of canals and river navigations have been re- opened to public use since the Association was founded in 1946. An additional 500 miles of derelict inland waterways are currently the subject of restoration plans. • In the Barnsley area over half the population live within one mile of the Borough’s former canals. • The Government appointed IWAAC (Inland Waterways Amenity Advisory Council) in its report of June 2001, “A Second Waterways Age- review of waterways restoration and development priorities”, identified that the Barnsley Dearne & Dove Canals were no longer of “Local” significance but were of “Regional” significance, it goes on to say restoration to full navigation of both canals would “promote investment, economic revitalisation and environmental gains for blighted industrial area”. In a number of areas it is hoped to enhance and extend the feasibility study brief, for this purpose further donations are required, please find attached a copy our appeal slip it can also be downloaded from the website at www.bddct.org.uk where further information is also available. Donations should be made payable to “BDDCT (Restoration - Feasibility Appeal)” and sent to Barnsley Dearne & Dove Canals Trust c/o 39 Hill Street, Elsecar, Barnsley S74 8EN. Any donations however large or small will be gratefully received and acknowledged in the Barnsley Dearne & Dove Trust’s magazine “The Keel". • On the feasibility study / technical Mike Silk tel. 01924 37866 or Malcolm Macaskill tel. 01977 703874. • Vaughan Welch Chairman of the IWA Restoration Committee national policy tel. 0121 477 9782. • John Openshaw Chairman of the Barnsley Canal Consortium [email protected] tel. 01226 700070. The Grove, Station Road, Royston, Barnsley, S71 4EP. • Derek Housley [email protected] tel. 01226 790341 (home). .