Northwest BCU Access Seminar 2006
Saturday 28th January Pete King & I attended the above meeting at the Burrs Activity Centre.
All were welcome to come and take part, listen to the talks, have your say in the discussions, it was attended by about 40 / 50 people mainly from canoe clubs in the northwest.
It was hosted by Chris Cleaver NW Regional Access Officer & Chris Hawksworth BCU.
Presentations included :-
The Law on access.
Chris & Chris talked about the law as it stands.
The land owner also owns half the river rights, only 2% of rivers in England & Wales have access rights to the puplic.
Environmental Agency
William Crookshank gave a talk about how they and the BCU work together on projects such as repairing weirs and putting in access steps.
| Useful No.s | |
| River level Information | 0906 619 77 33 |
| River pollution 24H emergency | 0800 80 70 60 |
| River blockages (trees/debris) | 08708 506 506 |
BCU Access Campaign
Tamsin Phipps from the BCU gave a talk on how the campaign is going and how we can all help.
EDM 957 river access for non-powered craft, white paper in parliament.
Currently 111 MPs have signed up to it, Ask your MP if they have signed up.
Clubs to help raise public awareness through the local media and Focus Magazine.
River clean ups / sponsored avents for local charity's such as Cheshire ring / rolling / carry a kayak.
(I have some leaflets posters and car stickers)
Keep an eye on what's happening at www.riversaccess.org
Stockport White Water Course
Roy Briscoe talked about the progress.
It is planned to pump up to 14 Commits of water and have a 4 metre drop over the 275 metre course which is Olympic standards.
It is supported by Stockport Council the BCU and sport England.
It is well advanced and ready for full planning application Stockport Council have put up £50,000 but about £60,000 still needed to find to be able to put forward.
Contact roy.biscoe@btopenworld.com for more information.
Brighton University
Someone ? talked about the Defra Study and the River Mersey Access agreement which is due to start soon (this year) from Stockport town centre to Carrington.
See attachments.For more information or to attend the next meeting in 2007 contact:-
BCU NW Region Access Officer
Well that's about what went on.