Bedford & Milton Keynes Waterway Trust Bedford Group News

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Bedford Group

Bedford and Milton Keynes Waterway Trust

Minutes : 30 March 2004

1. Report from members:

John and Sally Gunning

were on TV at the A421 Highways enquiry at Marston Morteyne - shown looking at the map to see where the canal would go - they spoke to the Highways agency staff and pointed out that the highways leaflet was out of date - it didn't feature the canal. They were told it was not incuded as it wasn't yet confirmed.

They also visited the Forest Centre and left leaflets.

John and Sally have left leaflets at the library and the tourist information centre and the retirement centre where there was a lot of interest.

Andrew Stumpf has a list of user groups that John and Sally will get to Leigh to use as part of our petition campaign.

They will write to political parties a month before the elections.

Action: John and Sally to continue with identification of interest groups and sending details to Leigh.

Alan Cook

Alan went to the meeting James Clifton (BW) held with local engineers. There was discussion about the realignment of the platforms at Bedford which might mean that the railway bridges cease to be a problem as they would have to be raised then. It is less of a problem with the slow bridge - it could be jacked up as it is a low speed line.

Action: Alan is contacting the local IWA about the Trust. The Cambridge branch covers the Great Ouse from Bedford to the sea.

Pete Skipper

There was discussion about issues Pete put forward in the meeting, leading to the following actions:

Action: Pete to follow up the display with Don Allison who is already in touch with the Forest Centre

Action: Marilyn Leask to email British Waterways about impact of cutting for the A421 - would that cut the costs or do we still have the Brogborough whirl?

Action: propose committee contacts Woburn Abbey to ask for their interest in lobbying for a marina near there and ask if they are interested in the establishing of a major attraction there.

Chris Fox

· Produced a detailed map of the line of the canal beyond Bedford to the west. He asked if there were sympathetic owners of land on the river who would support the idea of extending the navigation upriver
Action: He is to find out contact British Waterways to find out who owns the land on the proposed route. Chris Fox will try to find any structural engineers who will do costs for us.

2. Other Items:

2.1 River Festival tasks

Permanent moorings: At the previous meeting, we suggested that GOBA take on the lobbying for permanent mooring facilities in the town following the Festival.
Action: Peter Skipper to ask John Hodgson and GOBA to take on the lobbying for permanent moorings with B&MK; support.
Publicity at the festival - boat rides: Pete has volunteered his boat for publicity and needs signs. Other boating activities were also considered.

John Hodgson and GOBA are to be asked if any members can provide the boat rides. Rodney Evans is to be asked if any Bedford members are known to have boat hire businesses.

3. Any other business

Some one is needed to produce a summary of the work of the Bedford Group for the web site - volunteers are called for.

The next meeting of the Bedford Group will be held on Thursday 13th May, 7.30pm, at 23 Bushmead Avenue, Bedford, MK20 3QJ - telephone 01234 401 922.

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