The Northern Reaches Restoration Group

THE NORTHERN REACHES RESTORATION GROUP

Restoration Update - Newsletter Summer 2003 No. 4

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INTRODUCTION BY HAL BAGOT. CHAIRMAN, NRRG

The restoration project has certainly moved up a gear! The Public Meeting held in Kendal on 20 March took place before a packed audience in the Town Hall, and Debbie Lumb, Tania Snelgrove and the Consultants responsible for the Impact Study, Environmental Resources Management (ERM) set out their findings. These were extremely well received, as was the work presented by the students of Kirkbie Kendal School, Kendal, and Queen Elizabeth School, Kirkby Lonsdale.
Notes from the Impact Study are now included in this issue. These findings will now be presented to North West Development Agency and other potential funding bodies. Work on the Conservation Plan for the restoration is ongoing, and further enhancement schemes along the length are planned. We welcome Jonathan Brickland, a British Waterways ecologist onto the project team.
Whilst there is clearly an enormous amount of work to do to realise our ambition of restoration of the Northern Reaches to Canal Head Kendal, the impressive pace we are achieving is due to the hard work and enthusiasm of my Executive Committee, now over 15 members, with each meeting very well attended. This enthusiasm, combined with that of our Steering Group drives the project forward and I am very grateful to everyone involved.

Pretty as a Picture
The photographic Group '645' have kindly agreed to support the restoration with the donation of their time and talent by undertaking a visual record of the restoration as it progresses. Their work will be on show at each quarterly public talk, and will culminate, we hope with an

exhibition at the Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal. All images featured in this edition are available for purchase, and monies raised will fund the restoration.

A boost to South Lakeland confirmed
More than 800 new jobs, new marinas, £45 million new private investment and an extra £21 million visitor income are just a few of the projected benefits identified in the recently completed Environmental Resources Management Options Appraisal Study.

The study examined the feasibility of the restoration project in terms of engineering, funding, water resources, heritage, land and social and economic benefits. The whole restoration has now been costed at just over £50 million, and could be achievable by 2008.

Some of the main benefits identified include:

	Creation of over 800 additional jobs
	Additional tourist revenue of £21million pa
	Additional 1m visitors pa
	£45m private investment
	Bring 35 hectares of brownfield land into use.
	Provide 620 residential units, 180 hotel beds, and 53,000 m2 of gross floorspace in retail, leisure, business and industry
	Introduce and promote biodiversity, including the creation of new wetland habitats
	The newly restored canal would help to promote sport, recreation, arts trails, sustainable transport links, multiuser trails, and volunteer projects.

Already an aerial survey, using a state of the art Light Detection and Ranging System has been carried out which will assist the restoration around (and under!) major obstructions, checking earth structures and towpath levels and calculating excavation quantities.

Modern engineering equipment will also be used to tackle the three major blockages cause by the M6 motorway. At all three obstructions the canal will be channelled under the motorway in a culvert. At Cinderbarrow Culvert this will involve the installation of a new lock to lower the water level. At Spinney Culvert, the crossing will be brought south by several hundred metres to reduce the water level and at Crooklands Culvert the canal will just be driven straight through the existing line.

The next phase of the restoration will be to take these findings to the North West Development Agency, as the hoped major
funders of the project, to help convince them of the huge advantages of the restoration to the area.

Northern Reaches Update
Public Talk 18 June 7.30pm Lancaster Town Hall
Interested members of the public are invited to hear British Waterways Manager Debbie Lumb presenting an update on the restoration plans, in particular concentrating on the findings of the ERM Impact Study which has been recently completed. Members of the NRRG will be present to answer questions on the project.

Calendar for 2003
Guided walks are being led along the waterway, with dates as follows. Steve McHugh is a countryside ranger and British Waterways foreman, and provides a wealth of information about the history of the waterways and how we maintain them to this day.

Wed 4 June Crooklands
Wed 2 July Levens
7 September Sponsored Walk
This circular walk from Crooklands along the infilled line of the canal and over Hincaster Hill is designed to raise money for both the restoration of the Northern Reaches and for the development of the Lady Fiona education boat.

Search for volunteers!
Would you like to volunteer to help out?
We have so many things happening at the moment, and we are always looking for cheerful victims who don't mind giving of their time and energy! Whether its helping with work parties on the cut, or face painting at events, we'd love to hear from you.

The Lady Fiona
Heritage Lottery Fund has granted us a sum to restore the Lady Fiona wide beam boat. Currently moored at Aldcliffe Road in Lancaster, this vessel is the last remaining wide beam barge on the canal. She was built around 1900, originally called 'Pet', and has seen many uses throughout her life including cargo carrier, dredger and trip boat.
We would now like to restore the boat to its 1900 condition (with the addition of an engine to make life easier!) and use it as a classroom for local schoolchildren. It will also double as an exhibition space to be used to promote the Northern Reaches restoration. Any funds raised will be put towards matching the HLF grant and making sure we get the boat on the water as soon as possible!