Environment Food and Rural Affairs written question – answered at on 28 February 2008.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the effect of the withdrawal of British Waterways from the Cotswold Canal Partnership on the restoration programme of the Thames and Severn canal.
The proposed restoration of the Cotswold canals has been endorsed in the Cotswold district council's local plan and the line of the canals is protected.
British Waterways is just one of the 19 members of the partnership. The Cotswold Canals Partnership is committed to the restoration project and will continue with it, given the regeneration benefits in the long term. The timetable for the restoration of these canals will depend upon the availability of funding.
We have always made clear that, while we welcomed the project, this was a matter for the British Waterways Board.
British Waterways remains optimistic that the restoration will be achieved in the future.
Yes0 people think so
No3 people think not
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