Study trip to UK - 28 and 29 August 2006
A French-Belgian delegation made up of elected officials, engineers and journalists involved in the Blue Links project paid a visit to England on 28-29 August 2006. The aim was to uncover the secrets of restoration and development of historic canals in this country.
Monday 28 August, 7:45 in Lille, it's pouring with rain! A group forms in front of the customs post at the Eurostar terminal. Before embarking, all the delegates pray for the weather to be kinder at the other end of the tunnel, and throughout the two days to be spent in England.
From the metropolis of Birmingham, canal city par excellence, via the small town of Banbury on the Oxford Canal to the flight of locks at Hatton on the Grand Union Canal, these two days brought home to the delegates the whole range of recreational and tourist activities on the inland waterways, and showed the extraordinary efficiency of the development work undertaken on the country's former industrial canals. The objective was also to learn about the numerous impacts of waterway tourism and leisure on local development, in both urban and rural environments.
The first site visit is the IWA's National Waterways Festival at Beale Park. The final approach from Pangbourne is on board the superb steam launch Alaska, and much hooting and applause accompany the launch's arrival at the heart of the site. Delegates enjoy the charming presentation (en français) by Alaska's owner and skipper, and the welcome speech by rally director Ian West.
The coach then heads north to Banbury on the Oxford Canal. This visit presents participants with the example of a smaller-scale urban regeneration project covering a run-down area close to the town centre. A new shopping centre, a glass-enclosed footbridge with exhibits interpreting the canal, a historic dry dock, the town's museum and cafés... all these facilities combine to make the site a successful visitor attraction. Here Slimane Tir, Vice-President of LMCU in charge of parks, and Philippe Rattier, regional director of Voies Navigables de France, symbolically confirm their commitment to unite their forces and to lift all the disused bridges to allow boats to pass through the canal again! (4th photo below)
17:30, it's teatime at Hatton, bathed in glorious light from the sinking sun. In the heart of the countryside west of Warwick, the Grand Union Canal (which links London and Birmingham) makes its final ascent by a flight of 21 locks. The original lock cottage and workshops towards the top lock have been extended to form a small business park, an intelligent conversion of the original canal property. This is an aesthetically attractive scheme compatible with the tourism and leisure functions of the canal, at the same time economically attractive for the waterway manager.
Tuesday 29 August, Birmingham. The group is welcomed at Alpha Tower, in the offices of Birmingham City Council. Jim Quinn, projects coordinator in the Council's planning development directorate, presents the issues, the work already successfully completed and the projects remaining to be undertaken on the canals around the city centre. Glenn Millar, head of marketing and communication at British Waterways and coordinator of several European projects focusing on historic canals, is on hand to answer delegates' questions on the waterway authority's involvement and to add his views in what becomes a lively debate. The visit continues on a trip boat, allowing delegates to see at first hand various key developments such as the astonishing Gas Street Basin, the Brindleyplace canalside complex, the Mailbox shopping centre and the future landmark of the whole quarter, "The Cube". This visit to Birmingham enlightens the planners and contributes to the reflection on the Union regeneration district in Tourcoing/Roubaix and on the framework and mechanisms of public/private partnerships.
A final mad rush gets the Blue Links delegation to Waterloo just in time to catch the Eurostar back to Lille, and by a stroke of good fortune, all escape the early evening showers!
