'We will listen to communities' - canal bosses (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

'We will listen to communities' - canal bosses

THE PARTNERSHIP formed to lead the restoration of the Thames and Severn Canal is more interested in the views of communities as a whole than those of outspoken individuals.

That was the firm view this week of Andrew Stumpf, the regeneration programme manager of British Waterways, which heads the partnership.

Mr Stumpf said: "The canal partnership wants to be sure it understands and takes on board the views of the town or village as a whole, rather than those of outspoken individuals, enthusiasts, or pressure groups of either persuasion."

This was, he said, the situation at both Siddington and Kempsford where he understood there was both opposition and support for the restored canal to follow its original line.

"There are still 'route options' at both Siddington and Kempsford," he said, "and there are advantages and disadvantages, the latter particularly were it affects someone's home close to or on the route."

Mr Stumpf said he had no wish to make light of the genuine fears and concerns felt by people. "However," he went on, "I know of no village or town with a canal that now wishes to lose it."

Potential benefits, he said, included additional trade for local shops, pubs, B&Bs, and other local businesses, a traffic-free footpath and cycle route, added value for homes - typically 20 percent alongside a canal and up to eight percent further away - opportunities for diversification for farmers, the chance to build in habitats, and somewhere for local children to learn with field trips built in to their curriculum.

Mr Stumpf agreed that any major construction work did create a certain amount of disruption but pledged: "We will work with the local community to agree ways in which that can be minimised."

Construction work, he stressed, was confined to the width of the canal channel itself, adding that once the work was completed the new canal quickly became indistinguishable from one that had always been there.

Last night (Wednesday) Mr Stumpf was due to talk on the canals project at a public meeting in Cricklade Town Hall at the invitation of the Upper Thames Protection Society.