31/1/2006 - South Lakes local committee to consider land for canal restoration

Plans to restore the Kendal to Lancaster canal will be discussed when Cumbria County Council's South Lakes local committee decides whether to donate land to the project.

British Waterways has asked the county council to help the process of planning the northern reaches restoration by setting out its attitude towards council-owned land which could prove important to the restoration.

The county council owns several parcels of land along the route of the canal.

The report before the local committee at County Hall on Thursday, 2nd February, recommends that members agree some of the land could, in principle, be given free of charge as a county council contribution to the restoration scheme.

The report also recognises that the fate of county council's household waste recycling centre at Canal Head will be central to the future of the project and that the council should be seeking enough money relocate the operation to an alternative site as a minimum condition of any deal.

British Waterways has said restoration work will need to start at the Kendal end of the canal and is now starting on a master planning process set to cost £756,000.

Alan Bobbett, chairman of the South Lakes Local Committee, said: "The plans to restore the canal have serious implications for Kendal and South Lakeland. The project is gathering momentum and it is time now for the county council to think about what the project might mean for council land. What we aim to set out at this meeting are some principles   in order to help the planning process."