Deserted Highways Report (original) (raw)

Here are some examples of the important roles which the canals can play in London.

• 60,000 tonnes of sand and gravel per year are being shipped along the Grand Union Canal from a pit at Denham to West Drayton in Hillingdon. Planned to last seven years, this is removing over 5,000 lorry journeys a year from a 5.5 mile stretch of road_(Note 4)_.
• The recently approved plan for a waste and recycling centre at Old Oak Railway Sidings, Willesden Junction, will unlock the potential of West London’s canals. The plan includes a new wharf on the Grand Union Canal to allow waste and materials to be brought in and out by water, taking over 100,000 lorry journeys off West London’s roads, and allowing transfer between canal and rail.
• In Hackney, the proposed “waste by water” scheme could result in domestic waste being transferred from road to the Lee Navigation – reducing lorry miles from 124,000 to 45,000 a year (Note 5). However, this scheme is under threat and needs a political boost if it is to happen.
• 12,000 tonnes, or 1,500 lorry-loads worth, of waste scrap by-product, which currently travels 12 – 15 miles from Edmonton to Canning Town by road, could be transported by boat on the Lee Navigation, according to the Freight Study Group (Note 7).
• The canals provide many opportunities for recreation, which in turn help to maximise their social, economic and environmental potential by providing natural surveillance and moving the water, thereby preventing stagnation. These already include boat trips between Camden and Little Venice, the Canal Museum in Islington, the Hanwell flight of locks, the Pirates project at Camden (with boating activities for young people and families), the Islington and Laburnum boat clubs, other canoeing clubs, narrow boats, rambling, fishing, exploring wildlife, and Thames21’s thriving canal-based volunteer projects. An imaginative proposal for the future is a leisure waterbus serving a six mile ring from Limehouse Basin, along Limehouse Cut, the Lee, Hertford Union Canal and Regent’s Canal back to the Basin.
• Many stretches of towpath are accessible to walkers and cyclists. Other stretches need to be opened up, signed and maintained. For example, funding is required to provide for cycling on the Grand Union Canal between Paddington and Greenford, and between Brentford and Hayes (Note 8). Such ‘Green Corridors’ open up central London and provide safe alternatives to cycling and walking on roads.