Into the Jungle
WE HAVE just completed an out and back cruise along the Macclesfield, thanks to the continuing closure on the Ashton, which has revised our plans, writes David Hymers.
The Macclesfield is one of my favourites, especially between Harding's Wood and the top of Bosley locks. The locks were in excellent condition, with a mower shaving the grass down to bowling green standard. I can only wish that the same could be said of the towpath edge.
Sacrificing safety
Mile after mile of canal was flanked on the towpath side by thick, impenetrable vegetation which would have made getting off the boat in the event of engine failure or medical emergency impossible. Even if you could get off, then towing the boat to a location for emergency service access would be a physical impossibility. This is simply not safe and in seems that CaRT are sacrificing the safety of boaters to the interests of wildlife.
Not cutting the edge is official policy. The CaRT website says: 'While the safety of our users comes first, we're always looking to take advantage of opportunities to enhance the wildlife habitat of the waterway corridor. Our towpaths provide a continuous corridor to move along, unlike many other habitats in Britain, which are being increasingly dissected and fragmented. We maintain the aquatic margin except at key points such as moorings or when woody vegetation is an issue. Good hedgerow management can allow grassy margins to extend while creating a more effective boundary of high wildlife value'.
Does not come first
On the Macc the safety of users obviously does not come first. I fail to see why wildlife needs a 'corridor' along the water's edge—surely the towpath hedge provides an adequate corridor for just about anything. After all, this policy is a new one—the wildlife seemed to cope perfectly well in the past, when mowing to the edge was the norm.
The stated policy for vegetation cutting on rural canals, which is the large majority of the system, is:
Typically rural locations with soft bank
Cut to 100mm high, trodden towpath and 0.5m either side of the towpath, typically every 6-12 weeks.
Cut full width to 100mm high at least once every year.
Inadequate
Cutting to 100mm (4 inches in English) once a year is inadequate. It is obviously important for boaters that a cut should be done at the beginning of the boating season—but of course this will not be done since the interests of wildlife will once again trump the safety of human beings as this would coincide with the bird nesting season, which prohibits any vegetation management in the spring.
In any case, it is quite clear from the pictures that this is not being applied on long lengths of the Macclesfield (and elsewhere). There are ash and alder saplings growing to substantial heights which they cannot possibly have reached in less than a year.
In many places on the Macclesfield the towpath vegetation is now so thick that when combined with the rampant growth on the offside or the frequent offside moorings there is little more than 14ft of navigable width, and sometimes less. How much longer are CaRT going to let this continue? It cannot be a very pleasant experience for walkers either, as seen in the picture, hemmed in for mile after mile by head high vegetation obscuring any view—why go for a walk along a canal when you can't even see it? Perhaps CaRT needs to be reminded that it is taxpayers and boaters who contribute most of their income—not the wildlife.