By David Martin
It’s more than two years since Amber Valley and Broxtowe Borough councils gave FCC planning consent to reinstate the Cromford Canal from Langley Mill basin to Stoney Lane at Brinsley, called the Beggarlee Extension. That was the most amazing news and everyone was so thrilled at the time to get approval for this scheme. So why aren’t our volunteers out there digging like mad? Why haven’t we seen construction workers bringing heavy machinery onto the site?
There are at least two very good reasons why those excavators aren’t on site. Firstly, conditions which were attached to the planning approval had to be discharged before we could start. Conditions are needed to make sure work doesn’t start before checks on (for example) ground conditions, a local environment management plan and archaeological surveys. They ensure that difficulties and glitches are pointed out and put right before the main work starts. It has taken a while to fulfil those conditions. There are still a few other issues that we are working through but we’re nearly ready to make a serious start, apart from the second reason.
The second reason is money, or rather the lack of it! The FCC has employed professional fundraisers who have been working on this one. They’ve had some success, but as yet they haven’t raised enough to fund the whole project. It will take time, but we’ll get there eventually. In the meantime, the project start is likely to be made by FCC’s hard-working volunteers who have already been to the Beggarlee site making some basic preparations. In recent weeks, the work parties have started to completely clear specific areas to make way for some of the machinery. It’s really important to get all the vegetation cleared so that the mechanical diggers can get cracking next summer.
Have you ever wondered who will be operating the heavy plant? Contractors, of course, but also alongside them will be FCC volunteers. Our people have got stuck in and learned how to use the machinery that’s needed to do the digging. They’ve been trained by workers from the Erewash Canal Preservation & Development Association to the same high standard that is required for the Waterway Recovery Group who do a lot of voluntary maintenance on canals around the country, and now they’re just itching to get started. The first job will be digging trenches for some new drains; more than one canal has been breached by old culverts collapsing underneath it in the past.
This is a very exciting, and busy time for FCC, so if you’d like to volunteer or to help, you’d be very welcome; you can contact our work party organiser John Barker on 07860 632837 or use the ‘contact us’ form on our website www.cromfordcanal.org.
Don’t worry if you can’t operate heavy machinery, there’s lots to do like planting hedging, clearing brambles, fencing, repairing towpaths; the list goes on and on. And, of course, we’re always short of skilled workers, so if you have appropriate skills including in a background in construction, or civil engineering, or project management then we’d be very pleased to hear from you. Currently, we’re actively seeking a Project Manager.
But don’t be put off by talk of skills; any help is always useful. Just get in touch and we’ll do our best to find you a job that you may just enjoy.
