Eastern Challenges

For some time the project team have been concerned about the perceived lack of progress of restoration in Oxfordshire. This issue has been brought to a head by the Vale of White Horse District Council’s Local Plan.-while continuing to provide short term protection for the route of the canal VWHDC have asked for a detailed response to a number of questions about how and when the canal will be restored. In order to fully address these issues a number of us gathered last week to identify what needs to be done and when. You may not be surprised to find out ecological issues are part of the story and in particular there is a need to understand the current situation regarding the habitats as they now. We expect (subject to cost) that a ‘desktop’ study will be commissioned shortly to start this important work. We do have a shortage of volunteer manpower in Oxfordshire, especially to help project manage some of the sites and/or fundraise, and would welcome any new volunteers with a few hours to spare.  

The Melksham Link Masterplanning team presented further information about the business plan to a number of councillors and officers of Wiltshire Council last week. Discussions also took place with Wiltshire Wildlife Trust to see if there were ways of cooperating on the proposed hydro scheme in Melksham. The engineering team looking at the Templars Firs extension project in Royal Wootton Bassett met with Wessex Water on Friday to understand the constraints of the underground pipe work at the site.

I understand that the Royal Wootton Bassett branch meeting was well attended on Monday for an interesting talk on ‘Canal Shortcuts’ by Stuart Fisher

This week sees a further site meeting with the designated contractors at Studley Grange and some weekend work for the team on Saturday at the National Waterways Annual Workshop in Birmingham. Organised by Canal & River Trust and the Inland Waterways Association this year’s event is themed around ‘Getting it on the Map’. Appropriate for our current challenges in Oxfordshire!

 

Ken Oliver