Boaters' Update June 2009

First new lock to be built in London in over 20 years opens
Earlier this month the first boats travelled through Three Mills Lock at Prescott Channel, Bromley-by-Bow, the first new lock to be built in London in over 20 years. A tug and barge, flanked by a flotilla of narrowboats, locked in and out of the new structure, putting the new lock gates through their paces ahead of planned freight deliveries to the Olympic Park. In the longer term the works will allow new opportunities for leisure boats, water taxis, trip boats and floating restaurants, creating a major boating destination in the area.

The new lock opens up the Bow Back Rivers, a network of waterways in and around the Olympic Park, for the first time in decades, creating a green gateway for freight barges to enter the Olympic construction zone. Environment Secretary, Hilary Benn said: "We want the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games to be the greenest games ever. Funding the Three Mills Lock will not only take many lorries off local roads, reducing thousands of tonnes of CO2 and local congestion, it will also provide a green freight route for the redevelopment of East London, and open up the waterways for boaters, walkers, and cyclists."

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: "The revitalisation of this network of canals after decades of decline heralds a new age of water transport in the capital. By shifting noisy, dusty and heavily polluting freight vehicles from busy roads onto water, we can free up traffic and drastically improve the quality of our environment. This vital investment means a steady flow of boats will soon be carrying a substantial proportion of the materials needed to create the Olympic Park that would otherwise have travelled by road, sealing a legacy beyond the duration of the Games themselves."

Read more about the opening of Three Mills Lock

Unlocking the secret of the Euston Arch stones
During works to construct the new Three Mills Lock, BW uncovered a number of stones believed to be from the original Euston Arch, a magnificent 'Gateway' which once adorned Euston Station before it was destroyed when the station was redeveloped in the 1960s.

The stones were lifted from their watery resting place and handed to the Euston Arch Trust, who are campaigning to rebuild the Euston Arch. It’s believed that the stones found their way into the channel in the 60s when the British Transport Commission oversaw the demolition of the arch. The stone was used to help fill a hole that had been scoured in the bed of the Prescott Channel.

Not all of the arch was used to plug the hole and the final resting place of the remaining stones continues to be a mystery that members of the Trust have been working to solve for many years. The Trust aims to reconstruct the Arch, utilising as much of the original stone as possible, and return it to its original position as a landmark gateway to the capital for travellers arriving at Euston Station.

Architectural historian and committee member of the Euston Arch Trust, Dan Cruickshank, said: “The Euston Arch Trust has been campaigning for fifteen years to re-build the Euston Arch at Euston Station. The arch, completed in 1838, was the first great building of the railway age, the largest Grecian Doric gateway ever made and a building of great beauty and international architectural and historic importance. Its destruction was an act of barbarism but the careful raising of a number of its stones - a magnificent gesture on the part of BW - moves the rebuilding campaign forward significantly and means that a great cultural wrong committed in the 1960s can yet be put right.

Read more about the secret of the Euston Arch stones

New to Gloucester Docks
Following the success of the opening of the Gloucester Quays designer outlet centre and the Tall Ships Festival, in mid June Gloucester Docks saw the opening of the new Sainsbury’s store on the Llantony side of the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal and the opening of two new BW visitor moorings to help boaters get the most out of the new facilities.

BW’s project manager, Mark Edwards, said: "We wanted to make sure that both the Gloucester Quays centre and the new Sainsbury’s were able to capitalise on their fabulous waterside settings by providing suitable moorings at each site. As well as enabling boaters to stop off and stock up, we also hope that shoppers at both venues will enjoy watching the boaters moor up alongside.”

Read more information about Gloucester Docks

Gas Safe Register replaces CORGI
The Boat Safety Scheme (BSS) wants owners of boats with gas systems installed to know that Gas Safe RegisterTM has replaced the CORGI gas registration scheme in England, Wales, Scotland and the Isle of Man.

It is vital that boaters use gas engineers who know exactly what they are doing because the dangers linked to poor gas work are real. Research for Gas Safe Register found that most of the people asked took it on trust that their gas engineer was properly registered and never checked out their qualifications.

Each year on average the BSS logs six incidents of carbon monoxide or explosions on boats caused by badly installed, dangerously repaired or poorly maintained gas appliances and systems, highlighting the importance of thorough checks.

Read more about the new Gas Safe Register

Online boat checker submissions
BW has received 149 sightings of unlicensed boats by members of the public logged up until the end of May 2009. Of these reports, 14% related to boats which had already been re-licensed, a further 62% were already in our enforcement process, 15% resulted in new cases being opened for action, and the remaining 9% were boats which were not identifiable through a valid boat index number. The details of these unidentifiable boats have been passed to our enforcement teams for further investigation.

Visit the online boat checker

Update on BW mooring vacancies – switching to open auction system
BW is still seeking volunteers to help with the testing of the software changes that will convert the current tendering system to open auctions. For more information, go to www.bwmooringvacancies.co.uk or email siobhan.daglish@britishwaterways.co.uk

Thumbs-up from the Minister for Wales
The waterways of Wales have huge development potential which must be addressed if they are to realise their true economic value according to the Minister for the Environment, Sustainability & Housing, Jane Davidson.

Speaking at a joint BW and Environment Agency Wales conference, the Minister said: "I want to secure better use of our fantastic water resources for healthy recreation. I believe that our rivers, canals, lakes and reservoirs are under used for leisure. This is something I want to address because increased use could bring enormous benefits to tourism, people’s health, and provide more opportunities for different groups to enjoy Wales’ natural environment.”

Read more about the waterways of Wales conference

Spits barges competition winners
BW, in partnership with H20 Urban Ltd, has announced the winners of a competition to remodel five historic Spits Barges, creating an exceptional mixed use scheme, as part of a wider initiative to revitalise the waterspace in London’s Docklands.

Working with partners including Tower Hamlets Council and Sir Terry Farrell, BW is leading a vision for the area that will see the waterways maximised as a space for more activity, with improved links and landscaping around and across the docks.

The Barges, a combination of Belgian Spits and French Peniches, started life as commercial boats carrying their cargo along the waterways of mainland Europe. They were given an opportunity to become a part of this new scheme when BW’s London Director, Mark Bensted, and Docklands Manager, Dennis Fink, spotted their potential. The barges were brought across the North Sea and re-homed in South Quay, London Docklands.

The competition was won by two award winning practices: BACA, a research led practice noted for its work around climate change and flooding, and PCKO, recognised for its work in creating attractive buildings that respect the environment and utilise innovative technology.

Submissions from the shortlisted practices, Brid Carr Architecture and Amin Taha, will be displayed alongside the winners and other entrants as part of the ‘BARGE - breathing new life into Docklands’ exhibition at the NLA until Saturday 27 June.

Read more about the competition to remodel five historic Spits Barges

Public consultation on proposed BW boundaries
Finally, a reminder that the submissions deadline for BW’s boundary consultation is 6 July 2009. BW’s marketing director, Simon Salem, comments: “Each waterway unit is intended to be similar in length and with a similar number of physical structures. Beyond that, optimising water control and supply has been a major factor influencing proposed boundaries and we’ve also tried to reflect local authority and regional development agency administrative areas.

“The aim of the restructure is to achieve greater operating efficiency and, although boundaries between one waterway unit and another should be seamless, boat owners and boating trade customers in particular may wish to have a say in the final boundary decisions. This includes whether the locations of the boundaries are appropriate, plus any suggestions for the naming of particular waterway groupings.”

The suggested boundaries of each of the 11 units and the consultation paper are available to view on the BW website.

For further information about BW’s boundary consultation

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Last updated: 18/06/2009