Safeguarding land for the Upper Avon Extension

Stratford-on-Avon District Local Plan - first deposit draft

Safeguarded land

Policy PR.10

Proposed addition NOT accepted for first deposit draft

9. Navigable link from Stratford to Warwick as far as the District boundary upstream of Hampton Lucy mill.

Explanation

(Add:)

Navigable link from Stratford to Warwick (Upper Avon Extension)

There is a proposal for a navigable link between the current limit of navigation below Alveston weir and the Grand Union Canal at Warwick, known as the Upper Avon Extension.

This proposal by the Upper Avon Navigation Trust is supported by the Association of Inland Navigation AuthoritiesAssociation of Inland Navigation Authorities, British Waterways and the Inland Waterways Association.

The proposal is opposed by the Campaign for the Leam and Avon Rivers, representing a wide range of environmental, farming and water-based organisations.

The proposal, therefore, remains highly controversial, and could not proceed without a full debate and a public inquiry. This Local Plan policy is intended to be neutral on the proposal itself and does not seek to determine whether the extension of navigation should proceed. Indeed such a decision is beyond the remit of the Local Plan and will be taken in accordance with the procedure set out in the Transport and Works Act 1992. A safeguarding policy avoids pre-judging the outcome of an inquiry by ensuring that the options remain open.

Safeguarding the route is recommended by the Inland Waterways Amenity Advisory Council (IWAAC), which is the statutory advisory body on inland waterways to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and to British Waterways. IWAAC identifies the strategic importance of the proposed link in the national waterway network but acknowledges the controversial nature of the proposal and the need for a full assessment of environmental impact and possible benefits and disadvantages.

IWAAC recommends to the Secretary of State that the projects it has highlighted should be supported by the appropriate local authorities using the full range of their statutory powers, and that the key element of support will be the safeguarding of the line of a proposed project by including it in the relevant Local Plan so that, within the plan period, options can be kept open pending further studies. Safeguarding the routes of potential future navigation projects is also encouraged in the DETR policy paper Waterways for Tomorrow (June 2000).

Consequently it is now appropriate to safeguard the proposed route for a navigable link within the District from the present limit of navigation at Alveston to the District boundary upstream of Hampton Lucy mill, so that the land is not available for any use other than the present one or the development of a navigable link.

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