BARRY HOLLAND <[email protected]> wrote: >No doubt a lot of you have seen last Thursday's programme ''Countrywise'' with >Paul Heiney [a poor man's ''Countryfile''] where a link between Stratford & >Warwick on > the currently unnavigable Avon was featured. Back in 1992 when a mate & I > 'did' the Avon Ring & made a video of our adventures we heavily featured this > 'missing link' & > bemoaned the fact that it wasn't to be because of the > 'attitudes of riparian land-owners who didn't wish to see scruffy boats > passing by their properties.''
> We were merely quoting contemporary reports. The programme on 26 March made > it sound as though the link would be started next Tuesday, so definite was > it. In > reality though, does anyone really know if the scheme has received a recent > boost? I mean, according to ''Countrywise'' this issue has been under > discussion for > nigh on 500 years, we can afford to wait a bit longer! Starting from the end, it is highly likely that the Avon was once, a lo-ong time ago, navigated occasionally for freight to above Warwick (although without locks), so this scheme is more of a restoration than the creation of a new waterway. What is happening now is organisation, something seriously lacking for some time previously . A body (The Stratford and Warwick Waterways Trust) has been created to take the project forward, and is doing so energetically. The two authorities that have been running the Avon are merging (have merged?) into the Avon Navigation Trust, and its purview includes the river to above Warwick. Official support is being cultivated, with good progress being made (including in Strateford). Local political support is also risingl. The scare stories (about floods, higher retained water levels, constant traffic by enormous boats crewed by yobs and litter louts, trashing of the environment, etc.) that had previously put off riparian owners are being countered with facts, and owners now appear gradually to be coming on side. The basic engineering design has been done, and the required works are modest and eminently achievable. The fact that this show appeared seems to me to be good evidence that SWWT really is making progress. Good luck to it. Adrian . Adrian Stott 07956-299966
