Help to improve the Canal in Southall by answering a few questions.

Please help us to help Canal & River Trust to improve the Canal environment in Southall. They are carrying out a public consultation and responding to it will help us as well as help the Trust.

There are five areas they are consulting on, please fee free to give your comments on all of them as you see fit, However, there are three that are more important to us as a Club, and one which is crucial.

Spikes Bridge Park Focus Area, which is where we used to paddle when we were at SAC, we fully support these ideas, feel free to write your own comments

Bankside Focus Area, again we fully support these ideas, for those of you who used to paddle at SAC, this is where all the swans congregate. Please feel free to comment.

Southall Recreation Ground Focus Area, this is an area which is of particular interest to us as we regularly paddle along this stretch of the Canal either when we paddle up from the Club, or when we are paddling with Featherstone School.

We fully support all the proposals in this section and urge you to do the same as it will improve the paddling experience fo the Club, it will also provide further opportunities for us to stage activities days to reach a wider audience.

In addition to supporting the proposals we have mad the additional comments.

“Consider installing solar powered lighting to bring this area into use in the evenings, putting lights up will encourage footfall and displace anti-social behaviour.

We also think the improvements should extend in either direction particularly towards the Havelock Focus area, the improvements between the Focus Areas, should include upgrade of tow path, solar lighting and better vegetation management. This would encourage people to us ether tow path more for walking and cycling. Ideally this should be done all the way from Hayes to Southall, to link the two communities that have so much in common.”

Havelock Road Canalside Focus Area, this area is crucial to us, so please do comment and support the proposals.

We have fully supported all of the proposals and written the additional comments:

“The inclusion of Bixley Fields in the proposals, this area gives a great opportunity for outdoor recreation adjacent to the Canal. Ideally the Focus area should stretch from the Norwood Road Bridge to Top Lock where it meets the Glade Lane park Focus Area.

The whole stretch of canal should be lit with Solar lights, so that it can be used safely in the evenings, inclusion of outdoor gyms equipment to encourage local people to get fit and healthy is great, but to make it really successful it should include organised sessions with local clubs and groups to encourage people to become active (The Sharks Canoe Club would be keen to work with you on this). Also putting in additional facilities in the Bixley Field Area.
We think there should be tow path improvements linking the site to the Southall Recreation Ground Focus Area (quality of the footpath, solar lighting and visitation management.”

Glade Lane Canal Side Park and Norwood Top Lock Focus Area, this agin is an important FocusArea fro the Club as it is on a stretch of the can we use every week. We fully support the proposals and are you too as well please.

In addition to supporting the proposals we also have made the following comments.

“This Area needs to be linked to the Havelock Road Focus Area, the tow path improvements need to be continuous between the two Areas to maximise benefits and bring people int to the area for recreation and healthy activity.

The addition of solar lighting to ensure the area is not just safe to use, but people feel safe to use it in the evenings

Bringing the disused building at Top Lock Back into Community Use would be excellent. Step free access at the Lock is also essential if we are to increase usage for the whole community. We would also urge the provision of easy entry and exit points for canoes and kayaks to aid portaging along this section of the canal.”

Please do complete the questionnaire and encourage as many people as you can to do the same, these plans will dramatically improve the area for not just the Canoe Club, but for the whole community