BEDFORD & MILTON KEYNES December 2007 WATERWAY TRUST Volume 5 No 4

Milton Keynes – moving on to

‘Plan B’ Milton Keynes Waterway Park was one of the twenty projects that BIG Lottery chose not to fund. (See page 4 for the three projects selected as ‘living landmarks’.) Obviously, not achieving ‘Plan A - get BIG funding’ is a disappointment, but the four project partners in Milton Keynes (the Trust, the Council, British Waterways and the Parks Trust) are confidently working together on alternative approaches to funding, designing and building the 8km of Waterway that lie within the Milton Keynes boundary. A range of meet-ings are taking place over the next two months which will determine the shape of our ‘Plan B’ - watch this space in the next newsletter. BIG Lottery will give us a detailed feedback re-port in mid-December and then we will meet with them in January, which will give us valuable in-sight as to what we’re doing well, and what we need to improve as we bid for funds in the future. In the meantime, we’re delighted to have the clear cross-party support of MK councillors. (see p3).

B&MK Now on the map The latest edition of Nicholson’s Guide to the Waterways now includes a panel on the B&MK on the Milton Keynes page. The text points boaters to the signs on the bridges either side of the proposed junction and gives a brief description of the history of the project. The information is not quite up to date but this is inevitable with a fast moving project like ours. Readers are directed to the website for the latest developments.

Our sign on bridge 82

What the Project Partners said

B&MK Waterway Trust Chair Jane Wolfson said: “We may not have won the £25million grant for the construction of the waterway, but the £250,000 we were awarded earlier, plus the additional money and work in kind that we gained this year, has al-lowed us to obtain planning permission, work up detailed route plans, and do the studies required in order to start the detailed design of the Milton Keynes Waterway Park. That’s significant progress and the scheme is more credible, and advancing faster, as a result.” Councillor Chris Williams, MK Council Cabinet Member for Transport and Strategic Planning said: “Of course it is very disappointing that the Water-way Park did not win a lottery grant – but it is in-cluded in the Council’s Local Plan, and the Council will continue to support the project.” Jeff Whyatt, General Manager of British Waterways South East said: “Expansion of the canal network and wider appreciation by the general public are key priorities for British Waterways. A huge amount has been achieved already on this strategically important new waterway and we are clearly disap-pointed that this bid has not been successful. How-ever, we remain committed to working with our part-ners on moving the scheme forward.”

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Avebury International Bedford District Council Bedfordia Bedfordshire County Council BIG Lottery Fund Broughton Hotel Forest of Marston Vale Photo Library Gallagher UK Ltd Hanson Building Products Logicom Mid Beds Council O&H Properties Stock.Xchng Wilson & Co Accountants Woodfine Solicitors Kevin Whately Actor Gareth Barker Anglian Water Peter Simpson Anglian Water Claire Gathard B&MKWT David Wolfson B&MKWT Don Allison B&MKWT Geoff Wheeler B&MKWT Graham Mabbutt B&MKWT Ian Clifton B&MKWT Jane Wolfson B&MKWT Jill Allison B&MKWT John May B&MKWT John Scott B&MKWT Leigh Willows B&MKWT Marilyn Leask B&MKWT Natasha Brady B&MKWT Peter Mathison B&MKWT Rodney Evans B&MKWT Tony Harrison B&MKWT Wendy Evans B&MKWT David Sands Beds CC Cllr Bagchi Beds cllr Chris Stanley British Waterways Darren Leftley British Waterways Dee Inglis British Waterways George Ballinger British Waterways Glenn Millar British Waterways Hannah Kitchener British Waterways James Clifton British Waterways Jeff Whyatt British Waterways Jim Stirling British Waterways Mick Crowder British Waterways Murray Geddes British Waterways Robin Evans British Waterways Sue Evans British Waterways - Helix Blake Broughton School James Broughton School Niamh Broughton School Sofie Broughton School Helen Brazier Broughton School – dep head Sue Payne Broughton School - head Stuart Pearson CABEspace Chris Blandford Chris Blandford Associates Dominic Watkins Chris Blandford Associates Justine Dowsing Chris Blandford Associates Nick Harper Chris Blandford Associates

Prof David Monk City University Michael Stanley Director MK Gallery Alan Bates English Partnerships Grant Seeley English Partnerships Jane Hamilton English Partnerships John Lewis English Partnerships Paul Hammond English Partnerships Sir Bob Reid English Partnerships Tim Roxburgh English Partnerships Pete Winkelman entrepreneur John Adams Environment Agency Roger Valentine Environment Agency Spencer Claye Gallaghers Tom Iles George Brownlee & Ptnrs David Whitehorne Halcrow Eva Chan Halcrow Guy Green Halcrow Tony Higgs Halcrow Mark Seward Halcrow Paul Williams Halcrow Phil Marsh Halcrow Roland Grzybek Halcrow Shirel Saranga Halcrow Sue Mackenzie-Gray Halcrow Kapil Dudakia Hindu Assoc Raj Chouhan Hindu Assoc Maurice Howell Internal Drainage Board Norman Costin Internal Drainage Board Victoria Ireland Ireland Associates Bill Joyce IWA Tony Talbot Marston Vale Forest Centre David Hackforth MK Council Jackie Fox MK Council Jan Phillips MK Council Jennie Cook MK Council John Best MK Council Linda Langman MK Council Liz Thompson MK Council Marie Kirbyshaw MK Council Michael Moore MK Council Mohsina Aleem MK Council Peter Smettem MK Council Phil Court MK Council Sarah Evans MK Council Steve Crowther MK Council Sue Barrett MK Council Alan Mallyon MK Council - cllr Andrew Geary MK Council - cllr Catriona Morris MK Council - cllr Chris Williams MK Council - cllr David Hopkins MK Council - cllr Euan Henderson MK Council - cllr Isobel McCall MK Council - cllr John Bint MK Council - cllr Philip Gerrella MK Council - cllr Sam Crooks MK Council - cllr Michael Barry MK Mayor David Foster MK Parks Trust Diane Liness MK Parks Trust John Duggan MK Parks Trust Liz Woznicki MK Parks Trust Kathleen Murray MK Partnership Lindsey Richards MK Partnership Mark Lancaster MP Stella Baylis Natural England Drew Marchant Renaissance Bedford Angela Warburton SEEDA Philip Raiswell Sport England Andy Knight Sustrans Roger Hanbury The Waterways Trust Nick Coppock thecentre:mk Jamie de Savary Whitecap Leisure

Thanks The team who worked on the lottery bid was impressive. The Directors of the Trust would like to say a heartfelt thanks to the following people and organisations who gave so much of their time and expertise.

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Hello and Welcome - to our new members who have joined since 1st May 2007: • Brian Holmes, Milton Keynes Village Simon Baines, Newport Pagnell Derek & Janet Brown, Furzton, Milton Keynes Hilary Goldsmith & Mark Rainer, Oakington Colin King, Bedford Ken Hook, Bedford Clive Davies, Radwell, Bedford N Niewrick, Kings Lynn John Cowin, Shouldham, Kings Lynn M & E Dewman, Eltisley, St Neots Martin & Katherine Bird, Stotfold Jon & Adrienne Brotherton, Biddenham Simon & Helen Holton, Clothall, Baldock Penny Harvey, Bedford Don & Sue Bethane, Kimbolton Paula Syred, March E&J Parsons, Somersham, Huntingdon Jeremy Cooper, Wolverton, Milton Keynes Ian Haddon, Newton Longville, Milton Keynes David Jordan, Ampthill Ian Gregson, Mowsley, Lutterworth We look forward to meeting you at one of our events

B&MK News

Published by the Bedford & Milton Keynes Waterway Trust.

Editor…………...........Geoff Wheeler Proof Readers….……Don & Jill Allison Distribution ……….....Leigh Willows Printed by ……….......Murrays Comments or articles for inclusion in the next edition should be sent to geoffwheeler@talktalk.net

MK Council Vote of confidence in the Waterway

Milton Keynes Council unanimously reconfirmed its commitment and support for the Bedford & Milton Keynes Waterway on 13 November 2007. A Motion was proposed by Cllr Brian White, seconded by Cllr Janet Irons (Labour), with an amendment proposed by Cllr Chris Williams (Lib Dem) and seconded by Cllr Andrew Geary (Conservative): 1. That this Council recognises the importance of the Bedford & Milton Keynes Waterway project to the continuing development of the City and the surrounding region. 2. That the Council congratulates all those who have worked so hard to get the project to where it is now and resolves that the Chief Executive should continue to work with our partners, stake-holders and other interested parties to turn this aspiration into a reality. 3. That the Council commiserates with the Pro-ject Team in not getting onto the final shortlist for the Big Lottery Fund, and agrees to continue to support the project despite this setback.” Lib. Dem. Cabinet Member Cllr. Chris Williams com-mended on the ‘infectious enthusiasm’ of all the ad-vocates of the project. Thank you MKC!

View from the Chair It’s been a hectic first three months! We had to pre-pare in case we were called for final interview by BIG Lottery, which was very helpful in crystallising the unique points about our project and the benefits it will bring. Of course it was a disappointment not to win – but we always knew the odds were long, and we’ve made mas-sive progress from having won (and spent!) the £250k BIG Lottery develop-ment grant. A huge number of people have been involved in the BIG project, in many different ways. I hope we’ve named you all in this newsletter, and certainly we thank everyone who helped us with this bid. The Milton Keynes project partners remain deter-mined to find an alternative way forward, and at the same time, plans to develop the Marston Vale and Bedford Waterway Park projects are moving ahead apace with the appointment of Richard Wood as Sen-ior Implementation Officer. Delightfully, we had time off in early October to take two cruises from Campbell Park to Great Linford, to show over 20 partners, stakeholders and members some of the delights of inland waterways. Many thanks to James Griffin of Wyvern Shipping for mak-ing these cruises possible. It’s amazing how few peo-ple have experienced the ‘secret waterway world’ of MK, and these trips really help to bring home the potential of our project. I’ve met many of our business sponsors in the last three months, and briefed mayors, councillors and MPs. Support for the B&MK project is growing; it clearly fits well with plans for economic development, green infrastructure development, water manage-ment and housing, as well as offering local people a wide range of leisure options. The Trust is grateful to all those individuals and organisations who help with information, influence, finance and practical help. The Trust Board is busy developing our strategy for 2008-2011, and in the next newsletter we’ll be setting out what we see as priorities. In the meantime, excit-ing plans are shaping up for future events – walking the central part of the route for the first time, making our mark at the Bedford River Festival in July 2008, and starting to plan our own Event for 2009. As Cllr Williams commented, it’s the ‘infectious enthu-siasm’ of partners, staff and volunteers that keeps this project going – so be of good cheer despite the ‘BIG’ set-back, celebrate the progress we’re making, and resolve to do everything you can to ensure we make even more progress in 2008!

Jane Wolfson

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So Who Did Win? Three schemes, in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Cornwall are celebrating their share of over £70 million awarded by the Big Lottery Fund. The ‘Helix’ project will transform over 300 hectares of unused urban scrub into an environmental resource for the thousands of people living in Falkirk and across Central Scotland. The project was awarded £25 million and when finished will see: • Over a quarter of a million new trees on the

site • 34km of paths and cycle tracks • A new section of canal linking and extending

the Forth and Clyde Canal into the Forth estu-ary

• The creation of the outstanding 30metre high sculpture ‘Kelpie’

Greater East Belfast Partnership’s ‘Connswater Community Greenway’ will use their £23.5 million grant to connect 379 acres of public open space, build 43 bridges and create 19km of cycle and walk-ways. The project will benefit more than 40,800 peo-ple living in the area, improving the living environ-ment and providing opportunities for leisure, exercise, recreation and supporting healthier lifestyles. The £23.5 million grant will also be used to develop a 9km linear park through east Belfast, following the course of the Connswater, Knock and Loop rivers, connecting people and places from Castlereagh Hills to Belfast Lough. ‘Heartlands’ is a community-led vision to transform Cornwall’s most derelict urban area into a truly inspi-rational cultural landscape. Heartlands £22.3 million will transform 7.5 hectares of former mining land into a World Heritage site and beautiful new parkland. The site will include formal gardens, exciting play-space, performance space for events for over 4,000 people and new cycle links to local trails. Heartlands will include stunning new public art with a range of water features, sculpture and contemporary architec-ture directly complementing the Grade 2 listed Robin-son’s Shaft mine complex.

Did you know? 10,000 families will live within 1 km of the Milton Keynes Waterway Park – that’s within a 5 minute cycle ride or a 10 minute walk. Nearly 400,000 residents will live in MK by 2031, all with access to the Park by local public transport. Over 20 million people live within a 90 min-ute weekend journey of the B&MK Water-way Parks.

Seizing the Moment – Funding the vision for the

Bedford & Milton Keynes Waterway Parks

On 7 December, the Trust is holding a ‘blue skies’ think-ing event to recharge the vision, open up new vistas and identify fresh opportunities to fund the project. The pur-pose of the day is “to explore how to fully realise the economic opportuni-ties/synergies the Bedford and Milton Keynes Waterway Parks will offer in order to identify ways of securing fund-ing for the design and construction of the Waterway and green corridor.” Over 50 Trust Board members and volunteers, partners and a wide range of other stakeholders with an interest in seeing the Waterway developed will come together at the Marston Vale Forest Centre. A series of presentations will emphasise why the time is right to ‘seize the moment’ and how we can work to-gether to create opportunities to generate funds to de-sign and build the Waterway. There’s a terrific range of speakers and we’re delighted that Chris Blandford of CBA landscape specialists will be chairing the day. Chris memorably described this project as one that his prac-tice supports ‘because we believe it’s got legs’ – and we hope he’ll set us racing during the day! We’ll report next time on the results.

Media Group Formed Graham Mabbutt, Trust Director with special respon-sibility for Public Relations, has formed a Media Group to bring together all the key volunteers respon-sible for production of material promoting and com-municating B&MK activity. The first meeting of the Group took place on 5th November under Graham’s chairmanship. Members are Natasha Brady (Press Officer); Don Allison (Displays Manager); Geoff Wheeler (Newsletter Editor); Keith Malone (Photographer and Photo Librarian); Len Barrows (Trust Webmaster); John & Sally Gunning (Promotional Talks Organisers); Rodney Evans (Company Secretary) and Claire Gathard (our Project Officer) as Secretary to the Group. Graham says “ It is vital that the Trust communicates more widely, consistently and efficiently to all our partners, supporters and the general public. We need to keep everybody infected with our enthusiasm and informed of all the work that is being achieved to carry the project forward. The Media Group members are working hard to do this, but I believe that we shall be able to co-ordinate and plan our activities more effectively through our quarterly meetings supple-menting existing inter-member communication”.

Public Art at The Helix

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B&MK and Eastern Waterways Strategy Dr Neil Ravenscroft and Belinda Heys of the Univer-sity of Brighton ‘Water Recreation Strategy’ team, visited the Trust recently for a briefing and discussion of the place of the B&MK Waterway in the current study being undertaken by the Environment Agency (EA). Rodney Evans reports. The EA has been asked by the Department of the Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to pro-duce a water-related Sport and Recreation Strategy for the East of England. The University of Brighton has been retained by the EA to conduct consultation workshops with all interested parties and to develop the strategy. As a Trust Director I attended the Ely Workshop on 1st May this year and put forward the B&MK as a key project to be considered in the strat-egy. Our case was well received and the visit of Dr Ravenscroft and Belinda Heys is a welcome follow up. Our visitors were shown the Kevin Whately DVD to illustrate how we now view the whole waterway as an integral part of a waterway park for all between MK and Bedford. Jane Wolfson, Chair of the Trust, gave a short elaboration of this theme and summarised how far we had got with the whole project. She stressed the strength of support from all quarters for its potential huge contribution to the environmental and economic amelioration of the planned develop-ment of eastern MK and Marston Vale through to Bedford. There followed a lively discussion with John Bint, Interim Chief Executive of the MK Waterway Park; Paul Maison, British Waterways Environmental Plan-ner; Claire Gathard, Project Officer of the Trust and myself.

Dr Ravenscroft gave the encouraging news that mainstream national government thinking was now looking for blue (i.e. water) space planning strategy, a blue infrastructure as a driver for urban development. There was a new awareness of the value of a blue/green connective infrastructure for the country as a basis for further development rather than an after-thought when development had taken place. Studies have shown that this new emphasis in regeneration around the country has enhanced economic pros-pects by attracting employers to areas where there is

a better quality of life for employees. The Trust team think we ticked all the right boxes for the emerging strategy and hope this will help our project move for-ward. The University is working to put out a draft report for consultation on its website during December. Follow-ing the consultations, a final stand alone ‘Water Strat-egy Plan’ in the ownership of the EA, East of England Economic Development Agency (EEDA) and other bodies will be published. It will be available to all planning authorities and be a strong hint as to how they should go forward. The Trust poster and further details of this study may be viewed on the Water Recreation Strategy Website at www.brighton.ac.uk/waterrecreation/ then follow the links ‘workshop posters’; ‘England posters’ and so B&MK. See also comments received and in due course the Draft Strategy Report.

Rodney Evans

David Fowler joins the B&MK Board

David Fowler joined the B&MK Trust Board in September. He’s a key member of the Talks team and, as he explains, he’s been involved with the waterway since the beginning. “Brian Young had the original idea for “A Waterway for All” and as I sat in the first meeting he called in 1994 I thought – great idea but a bit “pie in the sky”. We put in a Lottery Bid in 1996 which was unsuc-cessful but we have come a long way since then, with the concept being accepted by all the local authorities and the majority of landowners. Sadly Brian died in 2001. As a Bedfordian and retired Chartered Civil Engineer I spent a lot of my career building roads and motor-ways, the Waterway is only a rather wet road about which to enthuse during talks! I am also a Bedford Tour Guide now, with a keen interest in local history and am hoping to put all the early history of the 1812 Canal, researched by David Banks, onto our website soon.”

David Fowler C ENG MICE

Paul Maison, Belinda Heys and Neil Raven-scroft share their views with Jane Wolfson

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Bedford to MK As you may have read in the last Newsletter, Richard Wood has been seconded to the Trust for 18 months to work on securing the route from Bedford to the Milton Keynes border. Now, 3 months in to the job we interviewed him to find out more.

Richard can you tell us something about your background? It’s been a fairly varied journey to date. The early years of my career were routed in the voluntary and community sector. I have also worked for both Bedfordshire County Council and Luton Borough Council, moving in 2004 to work for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (now Commu-nities and Local Government), first heading up the Regional Planning branch and more recently working on the Local Government White Paper as part of the Local Government Strategy Unit. I’ve always enjoyed projects that are well grounded in the community and which have tangible out-comes. I live with my family in Ampthill where we’ve been for the past 12 years.

Who is funding your post? Communities and Local Government are funding the first 6 months and the County Council are contributing to the following 12. Where are you based? I’m primarily home based, using a Communities and Local Government e-mail account (which has some useful lever-age on occasions!), but with a hot-desk facility available a couple of days a week at County Hall, Bedford. An indica-tion of the strength of the partnerships the Trust has built up is illustrated by the fact that Renaissance Bedford and Mid Beds District Council have also kindly offered accom-modation, if required. What do you hope to achieve? I am aiming to secure the route on the eastern side, pro-cure land where necessary, ensure the waterway is fully embedded in all relevant local and regional plans, have commissioned some of the key pre-planning studies, pre-pared the ground for a full planning application and to have made some headway in terms of securing the funds for the design and build. That sounds like a very tall order, how confident are you that you/we will succeed? I think the sheer energy, expertise and enthusiasm I have encountered amongst volunteers, partners and the Trust Directors, will mean that the waterway parks will become a reality and that the next 18 months will see us make sig-nificant progress towards this. Add a little bit of luck and who knows? What are the biggest challenges? Funding. The concept is fantastic and few need convinc-ing of its merits, particularly now we have set the canal in the context of the wider concept of a series of waterway parks. However, the cost of construction remains the big-gest obstacle. In developer terms it isn’t necessarily a particularly large sum, but the purpose of the waterway isn’t to generate profits in its own right, so securing the means to construct it will never be easy. The other chal-lenge is to strike the right balance between our absolute commitment to creating and enhancing green/blue infra-structure and the need to work with developers to draw in the resources to fund the design and build. Not always a comfortable combination – we need to take care to ensure that we do not (and are not perceived to) embrace ena-bling development at any price.

What is the timescale? The aim is to see how far we can get within the 18 months. To a certain extent, not all that we wish to do is entirely in our own hands, but there is plenty we can achieve regardless. Which other organisations are you working with? The Trust already has an extensive network of partners and it would be impractical to cite them all, but aside from our friends in the local authorities, Marston Vale Forest Centre and British Waterways, I have enjoyed the collabo-ration and support of Renaissance Bedford, am building relations with the Internal Drainage Board, the Environ-ment Agency, NIRAH, key local landowners and develop-ers and very much appreciate the contributions (often freely given) from the likes of Halcrow engineering and URS. The time and energy of the Trust directors and vol-unteers is also immeasurable. How enthusiastic are the Local Authorities? I think actions speak as loud as words in many respects. We’ve been delighted with the continued support of the Milton Keynes authorities, pre and post Lottery outcome; The County have made a financial commitment in support of the secondment and are working closely with us on a number of fronts. Mid Beds have now incorporated the waterway in their Local Plan Core Strategy document and the Borough remain committed to and supportive of the waterway park concept. In political terms, we are proud of and grateful for the cross party support we enjoy at local and national level. What about land owners? The majority can see the multiple benefits of the waterway parks, in terms of enhancing the broader environment and in the potential uplift this can give to both residential and commercial development. All however, as you might ex-pect, have a hard commercial core and timing is critical to determining whether we can do business with them. Nonetheless, we are fortunate to have a number of for-ward thinking landowners and developers working with us and they will be vital to securing the route and contributing to the cost of the design and build of core sections. How does the Waterway project relate to Sustrans? Sustrans are one of our valued partners in that we aim to re-route Sustrans Route 51 along the line of the waterway, creating a pleasanter and more accessible off-road alter-native to the current Route 51 across the Vale and through to Bedford. This will also ensure that the route of the wa-terway realises some of its potential ahead of the final build and will serve to secure the overall route for us as an integral part of the local green infrastructure plan. Are there any major developments in the pipeline? We have a major event on 7th December, entitled: ‘Seizing the Moment – funding the vision for the Bedford & Milton Keynes Waterway Park’. This aims to bring together a broad cross section of our partners and stakeholders to explore how to fully realise the economic opportunities/synergies the B&MK Waterway Parks will offer, and identify ways of securing the funding for the design and construction of the Water-way and Green corridor. In addition we have had some encouraging meetings with a couple of the key landown-ers en route. Will you give us a further progress report sometime next year? Certainly – and I hope to meet more Trust members in person as the year progresses. Many thanks Richard

Richard Wood

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First Steps Towards Our Own

Festival Plans are afoot to hold a Trust hands on/publicity event over a Summer week-end in 2009. That's only eighteen months away. We would like to build on the efforts of Bedford members who will be involved in the 2008 Bedford River Festival and hold a brand new festival at the Milton Keynes end. It’s early days, but ideas are already flying about. There are suggestions that we could organise a vari-ety of activities spread across the area from the Grand Union at Campbell Park up to and including Willen Lake. This will not just be a boat festival, but could cover a range of activities that people could try in preparation for the opening of the waterway - walk-ing, cycling, horse riding, fishing, boating, bird watch-ing etc. etc. Give us some more ideas and if you have contacts with relevant organisations, please get in touch. More importantly if you would like to be involved in some way also let us know. We want to show people this is not just a waterway on paper, but will begin to be a physical thing and those people living, or coming to live, in the area, as well as visitors, will want to be part of it and can have a major say in its development as they would want it to be.

BMK East Group Jottings from the front line or do I mean the Ouse end? The Eastern group had a first meeting chaired by David Fowler, at our house in Manton Heights, Bed-ford on 18 September 2007. It seems a long time ago now, buoyed up as we were by thoughts of lots of lovely lottery money very nearly gained. However, setbacks are there only to be overcome. I know there is money out there. The meeting decided that the role of the group should be chiefly to publicise the Trust and to provide an overview and update for members. We intend to meet once every two months, with the Bid Sub-group meeting in the inter-vening month. On the publicity side, we discussed two important forthcoming events, Bedford River Festival that we now know to be on 12/13 July 2008 and also a further “Walk the Route” which will this time go from Brog-borough to the Forest Centre. The dates for this look like being either Sunday 13 April or Sunday 11 May. More information later on these, but do keep a note of the dates. On the bid front, we are seeking money from the Parks for People lottery fund to refurbish Berry Wood. This funding stream offers between £2 to £5 million, but we might have difficulty meeting the criteria, so do not get your hopes up. We are lucky to have Marilyn Leask’s guiding expertise, as bidding can seem daunting. Marilyn assures me that I will feel better when I have achieved my first few thousand! We are also just starting to investigate the area of waste recycling funding. Where there is muck there is brass, or so I hope. If any area has been blighted by waste then it is Mid Beds along the line of the wa-terway and the least the waste industry can do is provide lots of money. We are hoping to have a recruitment drive for the Eastern side. Please do come to join us. Andrew is getting his mixing bowl out to provide a cake for the next meeting which is on Tuesday 15th January. Our email address is andrew.eardley@ntlworld.com We’d like to hear from anyone who’d like to get involved.

Jenny & Andrew Eardley

TALKS REPORT Throughout the year our small, but very dedicated, band of speakers has been out and about passing the word, gaining new Trust members and adding useful donations to our funds. Twelve talks were given to groups varying from W.I.s to wine guilds and most importantly to a group of school children as part of their curriculum. About 750 in total attended these talks. Already three talks are scheduled for 2008 and one for 2009. We would welcome new blood to join our team of speakers. Full training would be given and regular updating is produced on the Trust website. If you are interested please contact us. John & Sally Gunning (Talks organisers) Tel. 01234 305925 email: oldgunns@ntlworld.com

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B&MK WATERWAY NEWS is published by the Bedford and Milton Keynes Waterway Trust, a non profit-making company limited by guarantee (No.5760839). Registered office 16 Cuthberts Street, Bedford MK40 3JG and a Registered Charity (No.1114294). Contact us at enquiries@b-mkwaterway.co.uk or B&MK Waterway Trust, PO Box 3611, Newport Pagnell, MK16 OXN

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Thank you Hansons Hanson Building Products, the Trust’s first business sponsor two years ago, has come up trumps again! Follow-ing a recent update briefing, Managing Director David Szymanski has written to confirm that Hansons will con-tinue to support the project for a further three years. This provides very valuable continuity for our core staff funding, and we hope other sponsors will be able to follow Hanson’s lead.

Thank you URS With planning permission for 6km of the Waterway in Milton Keynes under our belts, our next priority is the 6km in the east, from the Forest Centre at Stewartby Lake through to Berry Wood and on to the River Great Ouse just below Kempston Weir. We’re very grateful to URS Divisional Director Steve Ashton, and his colleagues Pro-ject Engineer Jennifer Hutchinson and Technical Director Will Rogers, for the donation of their time and skill to provide the Trust with a detailed report that scopes all the studies and other work we will need to undertake in order to submit planning applications for this stretch of the Waterway. We’re using this report as the basis for funding applications. URS is the world’s largest infrastructure design consultancy. URS acquired the consultancy Thorburn Colquhoun which assisted our founder, Brian Young, in the earliest days of the B&MK project. So we’re particularly pleased this year to have re-established our links with them. Thank you URS.

And Finally—A word to our sponsors