Proposed
revision - insert:
9.
Navigable link from Stratford to Warwick as far as the District boundary
upstream of Hampton Lucy mill.
Explanation
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.
The
proposal remains 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.
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 under that
procedure 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.