Wildlife Trust adds voice to canal project concerns

A local wildlife charity has urged supporters to back their concerns over a multi-million-pound project to connect Welshpool to the rest of Britain via the canal.

The UK Government has approved a £14 million grant and work is about to start on a project that will eventually allow canal boats to reach Welshpool.

But the use of propellers on a stretch of water that has become a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) has raised concerns, with Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust adding to the likes of Spring Watch presenter Iolo Williams in calling for a rethink on plans.

“Motorised boats threaten the Montgomery Canal,” the charity has issued in a statement.

“Boat propellers stir up mud, reducing light levels for rare plants. There’s also an increased risk of pollution, harming not only plants, but sensitive water animals too.

“This would be seriously bad news for this special wildlife site.”

The charity has created a web page to explain their concerns in more detail and while they agree that “restoration is needed”, they add that the canal “needs to be maintained to keep the levels of biodiversity that are present”. 

“Tell decision-makers why nature matters to you and back our calls for sensitive, appropriate restoration and halt plans to allow motorised boats on the Montgomery Canal,” they said.

Last week, wildlife experts sent a collective appeal for developers to rethink their plans and to possibly make the stretch open to horse-drawn boats only. They also questioned the much-heralded economic tourism impact that it will have, saying visitors would only have “a few pints in town” at most.

Until now, the project appeared to be widely backed butm as the opposition voices grew louder this past week, Montgomery Waterway Restoration Trust Chairman, Michael Limbrey, defended it with a phase one dredging operation about to begin.

He said: “The Strategy integrates nature conservation at the heart of the restoration which is designed to bring environmental, social and economic value of the restoration. The new expert-designed Welsh nature reserves will benefit from the experience of earlier reserves with a flow of water from canal and extensive open waterspace.”

That story with more detail from Mr Limbrey can be viewed here.