Ouse Valley Water Corridor … at Liverpool !

Buckingham Canal Society takes the case for canals as water infrastructure to Liverpool

Our Chief Executive, Terry Cavender, will be in Liverpool on Tuesday 29 September for the Canal & River Trust’s event at Salthouse Dock, where he will join Campbell Robb, the Trust’s Chief Executive, and Susie Mather, its Chief Policy and Communications Officer. Corridor MPs have also been invited to join the afternoon. It is a timely opportunity to make the case, directly with the Trust’s leadership, that the nation’s canals should be recognised and planned for as working water infrastructure.

England is in its third drought in five years, no major new reservoir has been built since 1992, and the Government has confirmed that a new Water Bill is being prepared. The Ouse Valley Water Corridor – a joint proposition by the Buckingham Canal Society, the Bedford & Milton Keynes Waterway Trust and Anglian Water – would see around 30 miles of restored and new waterway between Cosgrove, Buckingham, Milton Keynes and Bedford provide water transfer, water storage and flood betterment, alongside the heritage, recreation and nature benefits of a restored canal. Engineering feasibility work, funded by Anglian Water, is due to report in early October.

Terry will be asking the Trust, MPs and partners for specific commitments – now and over the next three months – so that inland waterways are assessed as water infrastructure as the Water Bill is drafted. You can read the full briefing prepared for the event here: Canals as UK water infrastructure: Ouse Valley Water Corridor (PDF). Media enquiries to Alison Andrew at alison.andrew@buckinghamcanal.org.uk.