'Fence it in'

PEOPLE are calling for a length of the Sheffield & South Yorkshire Navigation to be fenced in, with a petition launched by relatives of a boy who fell in.

Schoolboy Matthew Cartwright died after falling into the waterway, not realising that the lush vegetation was in fact the water, and now parents of other children are calling for the area to be fenced, Alan Tilbury reveals.

Vegetation cut back

Others have suggested that the vegetation should be cut back so that children can see the actual edge of the waterway, that British Waterways no longer sees as a priority.

Matthew, aged eight, fell into the Sheffield & South Yorkshire Navigation in Swinton last month. There was a suggestion that lifebuoys be installed, but the general feeling is that they would be stolen.