Canal & River Trust back Local Nature Reserve Project!

Great News for Wednesfield and the Wyrley & Essington Canal.

I have been campaigning strongly to have the canal in Wednesfield declared as a Local Nature Reserve. I have been informed and I am so very pleased to tell you that the Canal and River Trust have supported the proposal to designate a Local Nature Reserve along the Wyrley and Essington Canal in Wolverhampton and Walsall.

This is great news, and means we can now discuss with CRT and Walsall Council how to take forward preparation of the management plan, and the likely timescales and funding sources.

Make no mistake this is the most marvellous breakthrough for this fabulous objective for our community!

If we are successful and create this Local Nature Reserve, and with the owners of the canal system, The Canal & River Trust backing the project. Its a real possibility that we could end up with the UK's longest linear Local Nature Reserve. To achieve this we will need Walsall to also support the scheme. It is more than a possibility that they will. So as you can see I am very excited by these proposals!

The Nature Reserve will attract lots of visitors, it will also be a great economic regenerator. I fully expect to see more boating traffic using our canal at Wednesfield, as the publicity and awareness of our LNR will increase the number of headlines the canal will make in the boating Magazines. Making more people from further away, aware of our fabulous gem, the 'Curly -Wurley'.

More boat traffic should create Wednesfield as a kind of 'Inland Port' improving trade, delivering leisure, shopping and other amenities for boaters. There is an incredible array of services that Wednesfield already can offer boaters. These facilities are good safe moorings, shopping and retail, a great Bowling Alley, fine restaurants, Multi-Screen Cinema. All within eyesight of the canal itself, so no additional travel is required by boaters to have those fun experiences.

I know that many local individuals already love the canal, its walks, its flowers, the bird life and animals. We are so darn lucky to have such a great resource available. But we do need to maximise its use, this announcement today goes a long way down that particular road.