THOUGH the Trent & Mersey Canal is saturated with new marinas, plans have been put forward for still another, this time at Middlewich.
This time however, the plans have been enhanced by the inclusion of 'affordable' housing, Alan Tilbury tells us.
Housing development
Part of the Brooks Lane housing redevelopment that has been submitted to Cheshire East Council include a marina together with houses and space for shops and/or a restaurant.
Though the plans are for only a small marina, that it is obviously hoped will be passed, it has space for expansion, so will undoubtedly be contested by marina owners who were 'conned' into building huge marinas by the then British Waterways Marina Team.
Downturn
This team promised good business with the increased number of boat builders at the time, but then came the downturn in boating, with numerous builders going out of business and less boats on the waterways, with the marinas left with many empty berths as boats were spread between the new ones and the established marinas. Last year British Waterways Marinas Ltd announced that its marinas were only on average two thirds full.
Numerous applications for marinas have been rejected as reported in narrowboatworld as existing owners objected, stating that there were already too many empty berths that could not be filled.