Boost for Bedford & Milton Keynes Waterway

THE eventual building of the Bedford & Milton Keynes Waterway has received a boost by the formation of a consortium to bring it into reality.

The Trust that has so far guided the campaign is to hand over  responsibility for driving the project to a consortium of local councils and agencies, with  the Trust being a founder member of the consortium, and maintaining its core role as a campaigning and community involvement body.

Explains the Trust's 'Chair', Jane Wolfson:

"As the project moves forward different organisational structures are required. The project has made tremendous strides but it has grown and matured beyond the capabilities of a single charitable trust. The time is right for our partners to share the lead in delivering the waterway."

Under the Trust's leadership, planning permission has been secured on a quarter of the route in Milton Keynes, and the entire stretch of the 26km missing link between the Grand Union Canal at Milton Keynes to the River Great Ouse at Kempston, it now protected in local and regional plans.

The first funded structure, an underpass beneath the new duelled A421 near Stewartby, was completed this autumn. Over £2 millions has been raised and invested by partners since 2001. The above photograph shows the underpass with the route of the canal on the left and a multi-user path on the right.

The terms of reference for the new consortium are to secure the route, undertake preliminary planning and design and obtain planning permissions as pre-requisites to the delivery of the waterway via the creation of a 'single purpose vehicle' delivery agency. When complete, the waterway will pass into the care of consortium members funded to maintain it in perpetuity.

Prospective Founding Members of the Consortium:

Bedford Borough Council
Central Bedfordshire Council
Milton Keynes Council
Environment Agency
British Waterways
Renaissance Bedford
Milton Keynes Partnership
Milton Keynes Parks Trust
Marston Vale Forest Trust
Bedford & Milton Keynes Waterway Trust