200 years of the Worcester & Birmingham
ONE would think that such an iconic canal as the Worcester & Birmingham reaching such a momentous milestone of 200 years would be celebrated widely by CaRT, alas I have not witnessed anything of the sort, writes Gareth Haines.
In fact, sad to say that this canal, like many others, has continued it's slide into neglect and deterioration.
Aside from the commonplace lock gate leaks, crumbling woodwork and out of action paddles, the vegetation growth is most notable, as this photo shows.
Not Florida Everglades
You'd be forgiven for thinking that this is a photograph of the Florida Everglades or some other wild delta, but it is in fact a stretch of the Worcester & Birmingham in the vicinity of Shernal Green. This is not an isolated spot of rampant reed growth either. This sort of thing is regularly seen along with a plethora of overhanging trees and encroaching bushes/shrubbery. I hardly need to point out the effects of such voracious and unrestrained growth, but I shall for the uninitiated:
- restrictions on navigation.
- restrictions on mooring space.
- dangerous obstruction of the view ahead for navigating boats.
- increased silt build up.
- etc.
Waiting to damage boat hulls
Then there are the more blatant instances of disrepair. The photograph of a mooring bollard and section of bank in the canal illustrates that perfectly at Astwood Top Lock. This bollard has been slipping for a good while and has now succumbed to the forces of gravity and rests on the bottom of canal, obstructing the lock landing and patiently waiting to cause damage to boat hulls; it's nigh on impossible to see whilst approaching on a boat.
It's a shame that CaRT haven't taken the opportunity of the 200th anniversary of this wonderful, historically important canal, to undertake a thorough program of maintenance and refreshment, whilst at the same time being extremely vocal about it.
Money squandered
Opportunity missed by the office boys (and girls) whose job it is to promote our waterways, methinks. Naturally, there will be the normal grumbles about lack of funds etc, which is the usual excuse trotted out at this juncture. I can't help but feel that, for starters, if the money that was squandered taking boaters to court was spent on the canals, everyone would be a lot happier...
NB: I have reported the damaged bollard to the local CaRT office and shall be fair to them in reporting when the situation is remedied.