Registered Charity No. 702429
CUT BOTH WAYS WEBSITE ARCHIVES
The Magazine of the Lichfield & Hatherton
Canals Restoration Trust
Issue No. 45 - AUTUMN 2005
Other Reports
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Registered Charity No. 702429 |
CUT BOTH WAYS WEBSITE ARCHIVES
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The news about the Lichfield Southern Bypass is not so good. I explained the background and our concerns on this in CBW44. In early August we discovered that the Reserved Matters planning application for the Chesterfield Road housing site, including the problem section of the Bypass, was about to go before the Lichfield District Council (LDC) Planning Committee with a recommendation for approval, although we had not been notified or consulted on any of the Bypass plans. Our Publicity Officer, Secretary and myself variously spoke to and emailed all the District councillors about our major concerns over their officers’ failure to consult, failure to assist us in accordance with their Local Plan and failure to ensure that Staffordshire County Council (SCC) were including infrastructure design and provision for the canal diversion in accordance with national planning policy. We asked that the application be refused or deferred. At the meeting on 8th August the planning officer admitted that the land being provided was insufficient, but councillors were told that they had already given detailed consent for the Bypass at the Outline planning stage, even though nothing other than a general alignment was available then, and that they should not even discuss the Bypass or the canal! However, the councillors ignored this and discussed it for an hour and a half, variously saying that: “they had been given false information; they were not satisfied; were bitterly disappointed; should do everything possible to protect the canal; should help the Trust; should reconsider; should negotiate extra land; it was not good planning; the road alignment should be moved; can’t believe there was no consultation on a project of this magnitude; someone didn’t do the right thing; and we are cowards if we approve this”. They then voted to defer the application to give time for meaningful consultation and changes to be made.
However, the directors of Persimmon, the developers, refused even to talk to us and it was a struggle to set up a meeting with the County and District when everyone seemed to be going on holiday at different times, but it eventually took place, thanks to County Councillor Terry Finn, on 23rd August. LDC were defensive and offered no assistance and the SCC officers advanced the extraordinarily illogical arguments that Government Planning Policy Guidance PPG13 did not apply because the road was being developer funded, and that they could ignore the detailed requirements in the normally mandatory Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB) if they so chose and because they had not carried out an Environmental Assessment. They admitted that they had deliberately decided not to meet or consult us since November 2004, which is itself contrary to PPG13, and that they were being paid by Persimmon to draw the Bypass plans without including the canal. There was some discussion about the engineering, including the balancing ponds they now planned to build across the route at the wrong levels for the canal, and we tabled an engineering report helpfully produced at short notice for us by Roy Sutton of IWA. They agreed to look at alternatives here, without any enthusiasm, but refused to even consider providing the most vital structure, the culvert under the new roundabout on the Birmingham Road unless we funded it.
The IWA National Waterways Festival at Preston Brook was a timely opportunity to raise a petition to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) asking John Prescott for his intervention to uphold Government policy and we collected over 500 signatures in the weekend which was duly dispatched with a covering letter. I was also able to speak briefly to Chief Executives Robin Evans of BW and Roger Hanbury of TWT, and Chairmen John Fletcher of IWA and Lady Knollys of IWAAC, all of whom expressed concern. TWT had already written and within days letters were sent to Prescott from IWAAC, BW and IWA and behind the scenes lobbying set in motion.
Although LDC knew of our efforts to get the application Called-In and their failure to meet councillors’ expectations of revised plans to make better provision for the canal, they put the application back on the agenda for the next Planning Committee meeting on 5th September with no changes. The modified report effectively admitted that their previous advice to councillors about the Bypass plans was totally wrong, but without any apology, and with the only concession being to withhold permission for a landscaping plan showing the canal route planted with trees. A further email to all councillors was sent seeking their continued support, but it appears that they had all been got-at before the meeting and told that ‘legal advice’ required their consent. This advice was spurious, misleading and did not address the substantive issues, but councillors were browbeaten by officers into approving the application although not without some further comments that: “they were disappointed, ashamed, it was dishonourable, they were stymied by bureaucracy, and the system had failed”. The decision was then rushed out 2 days later to forestall any legal challenge.
Our immediate reaction was that there was so much that was wrong about the way this had been handled by officers that a complaint of maladministration to the Local Government Ombudsman would be justified. The local Waterway General Manager Tony Harvey had written to the Council and now sought legal advice about a High Court action, since BW are concerned this could set an unfortunate precedent for developers and councils everywhere to ignore national planning policy on protecting waterway restoration routes from new highways and private developments. This is exactly the battle we fought and won 5 years ago with the publication of Waterways for Tomorrow, PPG13 and DMRB, or so we thought. However, the replies to the letters to ODPM all came from the Government Office for the West Midlands (GOWM), declining to intervene and missing the point entirely about the County’s willful disregard of national policy. We have since been promised a meeting with the Waterways Minister, Jim Knight which we will arrange as soon as possible.
Trust members can help by contacting their local MP about this to ask why SCC and LDC are being allowed to get away with flouting national policy on protecting waterway restoration routes. Local members in particular can contact their District or County Councillors to ask why their officers have behaved so unprofessionally over this matter and what they propose to do about it. Public pressure eventually won the argument last time over the BNRR, and we must not let the hard-won policy changes that ensued be lost through the councils’ incompetence and government indifference.
Phil Sharpe
The Medieval Market is a always a very special event on the calendar of the City of Lichfield and is held in the wonderful setting around Lichfield Cathedral. The L&H Trust information stand, with Bric a Brac and Games stall is set up in the Dean’s Garden and always does very well and has lots of public support at this event. For several years now, enthusiastic Trust members Jean Handley and Terry Brown have dressed up “in style” wearing fabulous authentic medieval costume and each year they select different costumes to wear. This year they were featured in the Express and Star and photographed on our Trust stand. They really enter into the spirit of the occasion and draw attention to our stand. Thank you both.
This is how good they looked!
(Photo by Jan Horton)
| Navigable Waterways: LTC Rolt | £10.00
| Canals and their Architecture: Robert Harris | £15.00
| Walking Canals: Roland Russell | £7.00
| Inland Waterways of Great Britain: Jane Cumberlidge | £15.00
| Birmingham Canal Navigations: SR Boadbridge | £20.00
| The Canals of Britain: DD Gladwin | £10.00
| Canals in Colour: Anthony Burton | £6.00
| London’s Lost Route to the Sea: PAL Vine | £20.00
| The Kennet & Avon Canal: Kenneth Clew | £20.00
| Industrial Archaeology of the West Midlands: Fred Brook | £10.00
| The Leicester Line: Phillip Stevens | £15.00
| Staffs & Worcs Canal Towpath Guide: Ian Langford | £6.00
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We also have 6 copies (new) of ‘Canal Tunnels’ by David Appleby, Allan Gilbert & Paul Samuel, price £10.00 inc p&p.
First come, first served. Orders to
David Moore, 88 Spring Lane, Whittington WS14 9NA.
GRANTS
Purchase of the Trust’s own JCB804 mini excavator reported elsewhere in this issue was generously assisted by the Inland Waterways Association making a grant of £5,000 for which we are most grateful.
The summer months have been a slow time to make any bidding progress but one new possibility has emerged from the Big Lottery with their Living Landmarks Fund. This could be for a minimum of £10million as 75% of project costs so we are aiming to submit a first round application before the new year; watch this space as events unfold.
PRIZE DRAW Bob Williams, Finance Director
Our raffle has been very successful again this year with well over £3,000 raised. If you get to read this before 12th November, there is still time to enter your tickets to be drawn at our “Black Country” social evening in Whittington.
General Fund
| Mr H J Y Pringle (with sub.) | £105.00 | Mr R W Lloyd-Hart (with sub.) | £24.00
| Rugeley Renaissance (talk) | £25.00 | Mr Eric Wood: French party boat trip | £25.00
| Lichfield Plastics Ltd re JCB 804 costs | £235.00 | Mr A V H Gulvin (with sub.) | £35.00
| Mr T Darlington (with sub.) | £25.00 | Mr P Newman (with sub.) | £35.00
| Mr D B Shipman (with sub.) | £35.00 | Mr B Parkes, sale of donated items | £1000.00
| Mr G H Thompson (with sub.) | £50.00 | N Blears (with sub.) | £25.00
| Braunston Historic Narrowboat Rally & | Canal Festival (25-6 June) profit share £200.00 | Tudor Construction & Developments Ltd, | Rubery, B’ham; charity dinner £163.50
| Mr & Mrs A Gilbert (Brick Appeal) | £50.00 | Sutton Coldfield Model Makers (talk) | £25.00
| Alvecote Marina donated mooring fees | £2,000.00 | Brian Kingshott (returned expenses) | £339.82
| Mrs T Dudley; hotel boating talk fee | £25.00 | Mr P Westley; model railway event | £50.00
| Dr T Hollingworth | £425.50 | Anonymous internet payment | £25.00
| Regular donors to appeals | £165.00 | Aggregated donations up to £20 each | £731.61
| Land Fund
| Dr J R Massy | £200.00 | Mr David Stanistreet - (£30 x 3 months) | £90.00
| Lichfield Road Race (water station) | £100.00 | Regular donors to appeals | £397.00
| Restoration Fund
| Kings Bromley Social Fund | £360.00 | Regular donors to appeals | £15.00
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| Mr & Mrs D. Taylor, N.B. Bideford, Streethay Wharf, Lichfield | Ms T. Newton, Bearwood, Warley
| Mr M. Haywood, Tenterden, Kent | Mr B. Tofts, Bexhill on Sea
| Mr S. Burgess, Whittington, Lichfield | Mr J. Mottram, Lichfield
| Mr J. Townsend, Lichfield | Mrs R.A. Blackburn, Penkridge
| Mr T. Darlington, Stone | Mr A. Sturgess, Earl Shilton
| Ms A. Knight, Streetly, Sutton Coldfield | Ms S. Gray, Cannock
| Mr C. Hale, Streetly, Sutton Coldfield | Mr D. Bartley, Tipton
| Mr R. Collins, Heath Hayes | Mr J.A.T. Goer, Walsall
| Mr B. Green, Saxlingham Thorpe, Norwich | Mrs S.M. Goer, Walsall
| Mr G.B. Blackmore, Brownhills | Mr T.J. Thomas, Lichfield
| Heart of England Marinas Ltd, Alvecote, Tamworth | Mr W. Chapman, Alrewas
| Miss K. Hudson, Penrith, Cumbria | Ms C. Fletcher, Cannock
| Mr R.P.B. Udall, Upper Longdon, Rugeley | Mrs G. Twist, Lichfield
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Membership rates are:
Adult £10; Family £15; Junior (under 18), Student, Retired or Unemployed £6;
Group (Clubs & Societies) £25; Corporate £200; Life Membership £200
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WORKING PARTIES NEWS & DATES |
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LICHFIELD CANAL
To find our usual work site at Lock 25 on Tamworth Road (Grid ref. SK 130 083) take the A51 out of Lichfield and the site is on the right about 300 metres after Cricket Lane. Look out for the new yellow sign. We are working almost every Sunday now, except for the third Sunday of the month (which is on the Hatherton) when the advertised date is on the Saturday, although we are often there on the other Saturdays as well. However, we may have the weekends off at Christmas and New Year!
Our own work parties are supplemented by WRG and ‘Dig Deep’ weekend visits. We generally work from about 9 am to 4 pm and more help is always welcome, even if you can spare only a few hours. Check for additional dates or the latest plans with Phil Sharpe on 01889 583330 (Email: phil.sharpe@lhcrt.org.uk) or Peter Matthews on 01543 318933, or visit this web site where any changes will be shown.
Work Party Dates:
| November: | Sunday 6, Sunday 13, Saturday 19, Sunday 27
| December: | Sunday 4, Sunday 11, Saturday 17
| January 2006: | Northwest WRG & Essex WRG Sat/Sun 7/8, Saturday 14, Sunday 22, Sunday 29
| February: | London WRG Sat/Sun 4/5, Sunday 12, Saturday 18, Sunday 26
| March: | Sunday 5, Newbury WPG Sat/Sun 11/12, Saturday 18, Sunday 26
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ALL SITES: Bring old clothes, stout footwear, work gloves, and refreshment. Hard hats and basic working tools can be provided as necessary, although you are welcome to bring your own.
| For details of Waterway Recovery Group Subscribe to Navvies (minimum (£1.50) from Sue Watts 15 Eleanor Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester M21 9FZ |
Work Party News
Good progress has been made at Tamworth Road over the summer by our own work parties, with a Canal Camp in August and with assistance from 4 teams from Land Rover during September. From July to September our volunteers have worked there on 10 Saturdays, 9 Sundays, 2 Wednesday evenings, and 5 days midweek on a variety of tasks.
At Lock 24 all the reinforcing, concreting and brickwork on the landing stages and towpath wall below Lock 24 has now been completed and the towpath reinstated, with assistance from the Camp and the Land Rover team.
At Lock 25 the ladder recess was finally completed, only to discover that the stainless steel lock ladder that was awaiting fitting had disappeared, presumed stolen, probably only for its scrap value. Although it cost us nothing, it was nevertheless quite valuable and the annoying thing is that we had put a lot of effort into cutting the recess to fit the ladder’s exact dimensions and will now need to find a replacement of the same size.
In the garden, further excavation was done to improve access to rebuild the walls, with the spoil again being transported down to the temporary mound by the A38 and, as usual, more bricks have been recovered, including from breaking up some of the large pieces from demolished walls. We also cleaned sufficient bricks to get the Canal Camp started. Excavation of a buried stone found across the demolished section of the towpath wall above Lock 26 led, as suspected, to the discovery of a whole cache of them buried in a deep pit dug far below canal bed level. The same thing was found below the lock and this looks like the other half of the missing collection of quoin and coping stones that we did not have when we rebuilt the lock 4 or 5 years ago. To prove it, one stone is inscribed “No. 26 1844”, which is the rebuilding date, and is the uppermost offside bottom gate stone that we had to replicate in concrete! Unfortunately, excavating the pounds before reconstructing the locks was not an option at the time, and we now have a growing collection of stones looking for homes on future lock rebuilds elsewhere on the canal.
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| Buried quoin and coping stones at Lock 26. Photos by Bob Williams | ||
A major step forward with this excavation work has been our purchase of the JCB804. After delivery to Peter’s yard where cab guard panels were fitted, along with Trust logos and labels kindly supplied at short notice by Tudor Signs, it was transported to Tamworth Road just in time to do some excavation work in preparation for the Camp and soon proved its excellent capabilities and manoeuvrability. We have also been helped by the loan of the WRG ‘red’ dumper which, with its directional tipping and electric start, is a big improvement on the old ‘yellow’ one which is now due to go for a major overhaul. Having these machines available when needed greatly enhances our capabilities and will allow us now to better plan future work.
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| Keith using the JCB804 (Photo by Phil Sharpe) and the WRG "red" dumper (Photo by Bob Williams) | ||
The Canal Camp from 13-20 August had 24 volunteers working mostly on consolidating and rebuilding the towpath wall in the garden, ably led by Mike Palmer and Becky Parr. The joints were raked out and re-pointed, loose and broken brickwork removed, lots of old bricks cleaned and transported, and a substantial section of the wall rebuilt. The bricklaying was greatly helped by Mik Golds and Ken from the Erewash coming over for a day. The Camp also did concreting at Lock 24, and a group went to Darnford Lane to spread the brick rubble to reinstate a firm towpath surface over the area of last years breach. Although there was a high proportion of students this time, which did give the leaders some early problems, by the end of the week I was very pleased with the progress made and the quality of the work down. Many of them had never been on a canal boat before so Ray Bowern assisted at short notice by loaning his day boat for an evening trip from Streethay to Huddlesford, then returning with the other half of the party.
 The completed towpath wall and landing stage at Lock 24 (Photo by Phil Sharpe) |  A selection of WRG Canal Camp photos by Jan Horton (Photo by Phil Sharpe) | |
 Canal campers re-pointing the brickwork on the towpath wall (Photo by Phil Sharpe) |
Other jobs we have done were putting up the new site sign made for us by Tudor Signs, and maintenance work on vegetation including below Lock 26 where ragwort has been particularly bad this year. We have purchased another strimmer secondhand to help ensure that we are not again left without if one needs repair.
The Land Rover ‘corporate citizenship’ scheme supplied teams of 5 or 6 employees for 2 days a week over a 4 week period, and all the teams were very enthusiastic and hard working. Their main job was to level and landscape the ‘triangle’ area below Lock 25 and to improve the access. A considerable amount of earth moving was done with the 804 and dumper by Keith and Bob, with the Land Rover teams doing all the hand levelling, removing old brickwork, replanting trees, laying and surfacing the paths, and grass seeding the area. We now have a wide and gently graded pathway around the back of the triangle as an alternative to the steeper towpath access, both for plant and for pedestrian and disabled use. In addition, the Land Rover teams have completed the towpath surfacing and cleared up at Lock 24, cleaned and moved bricks, raked out joints and re-pointed brickwork at locks 25 and 26, dug out behind the towpath wall for future concreting and helped with several other jobs.
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| The Land Rover volunteers brick-cleaning and landscaping the triangle area. Photos by Bob Williams | ||
Over the next few months the priorities will be to continue rebuilding the towpath wall and lock wing walls in the garden and reinstating the towpath. We also hope to continue the excavation of Lock 24 and remove the excess spoil from the pound.
HATHERTON CANAL
Although our advertised July work party did not happen, several of our stalwart regulars had already spent some days clearing the towpath right through the whole length from the M6 to the Roman Way, and in August a good turnout of 12 volunteers trimmed the hedge and strimmed the towpath to a fuller width from the M6 to Cross Bridge. September saw 10 of us tackling the jungle of Himalayan Balsam above and below Bridge 8 at Roman Way. It was 8 or 10 feet high in places and we were worked into the ground as well as the vegetation, although we did manage to clear all of it that was accessible. Whether it will do any good, however, in controlling this invasive menace is uncertain, as the seeds were already setting, but at least we tried. It should really have been cut a few months earlier, as we did last year, although it looks increasingly like spraying it may be the only long term answer.
| HIMALAYAN BALSAM
Himalayan Balsam (Impatiens glandulifera) is a relative of the busy lizzie and is known by a wide variety of common names, including Indian Balsam, Jumping Jack and Policeman's Helmet. It is a tall, robust, annual producing clusters of purplish pink (or rarely white) helmet-shaped flowers. These are followed by seed pods that open explosively when ripe, shooting their seeds up to 7m (22ft) away. Each plant can produce up to 800 seeds. Introduced to the UK in 1839, it is now naturalised, especially on riverbanks and increasingly in waste places and has become a problematical weed. Himalayan Balsam tolerates low light levels and, in turn, tends to shade out other vegetation, impoverishing habitats. Dense stands suffocate other plants so when it dies away in the winter, river banks are left bare and more liable to erosion. It is sometimes seen in gardens, either uninvited or grown deliberately, but care must be taken to ensure that it does not escape into the wild. With thanks to The Royal Horticultural Society 2005 | 
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We hope to get back to slightly less strenuous and more productive activities over the next few months, including levelling up short sections of towpath and cutting back more of the overhanging offside trees, with suitably warming bonfires for winter days.
Please help us if you can. Our regular date is the third Sunday of each month, from 10 am, with some occasional extra days as required. Contact Denis Cooper on 01543 374370 (work) or Phil Sharpe on 01889 583330 (Email: phil.sharpe@lhcrt.org.uk) for details of meeting places.
Monthly work parties: Sundays: 20 November, 18 December, 15 January, 19 February, 19 March
ALL SITES: Bring old clothes, stout footwear, work gloves, and refreshment. Hard hats and basic working tools can be provided as necessary, although you are welcome to bring your own. Phil Sharpe
To restore the Lichfield Canal and the Hatherton Canal to re-open waterway links between Staffordshire and the West Midlands, for the benefit of the environment, amenity and prosperity of the people of the Region and to enhance the nation's inland waterway system.
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