Tuesday 8 May 2012

Lovely canal - so why neglect it?

We have just completed a week or so on the Upper Peak Forest, a canal we visit at least annually and where we used to have moorings.
It is one of the most attractive and scenic canals in the country, with wide views of the Peak District and is likely to see more visitors than ever this year, thanks to southern drought restrictions and the Olympics.
So why is it so neglected by British Waterways?
From Marple to Whalley Bridge it is in dire need of dredging and if it were not for the weekly visits by coal boats even boats of a normal draft of 30" or so would have even more problems.
The offside vegetation is so overgrown that it is difficult for two boats to pass in many places, especially if there is a moored boat.
Mind you he would have been lucky to have found a mooring as collapsed banks and submerged coping stones are the order of the day. The moorings on the Peak Forest section of Marple are in bad condition for almost their entire length and have been for at least 4-5 years. There are collapsed banks at almost every swing bridge making it an art form to drop crew without grounding.
At Disley on a narrow section of towpath just where the canal breached a few years ago a collapsed edge has been fenced off with orange rash and ignored for at least a year and the same is true for a long section of the visitor moorings in Whalley Bridge.
Add in a couple of trees that fell earlier this year but have been left for boats to scrape past at the expense of their paintwork and the sad picture is complete.
Why has BW chosen to let this lovely canal deteriorate?
We don't have an answer - just a suspicion that all these problems affect boaters rather than walkers, cyclists or fishermen. Somehow boaters' needs are bottom of the list. Certainly well below paying bogus bonuses to BW bosses.

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