Divert the River ( This Is An April Fools Spoof!)

Did you cotton on to the fact that this article was an April Fool's Spoof yesterday? Lots didn't but it was a jolly good yarn!

April 1st;Councillor Phil Bateman said today "We should be looking to divert the River Tame away from Willenhall towards Wolverhampton so that we can better take advantage of having a river flowing through the City.

Water is a great draw for people and having a flowing river running closely with the canals would create a really great ambience for this thousand year old city.

I have written to City Council officials asking them to engage in a feasibility study as a matter of urgency so that Wolverhampton can take full advantage of water side residencies, maybe even a water bus(!) I know that Travel West Midlands can be really innovative.

This sort of megascheme would attract European Regional Development Funding, provide jobs for the City, and would give the River Tame a higher profile than it has managed to achieve in the current Borough it runs through.

Water side homes along the River Severn prove how a river can draw people into development sites and the whole Willenhall- Wolverhampton corridor would be enhanced by an engineering project of this sort. The river could even be joined with the Canal Network at the Basin at the bottom of Broad Street, where maybe a small lake with a marina for tourists could be established, before the River Tame is channelled away underground using the local sewer network to regain its original line of route out of the Black Country into the Severn basin.

This type ofplan would lift the whole image of the City of Wolverhampton, it would be imaginative, and would draw away from Birmingham some of the kudos that Birmingham has for chasing big projects. The River Tame would be greatly enhanced by having its name- and the fact that it would flow through a great City like Wolverhampton- linked to this City.

Having spoken to engineers I know that it is feasible, I just hope that we can convince the public to back this futuristic proposal that will provide wonderful opportunities for Wolverhampton."