Lock 11 rebuild

[hatter76]

As explained several times in this thread, new trees and shrubs are to be paid for by CRT. They will be planted in the autumn by the council and Friends of the Park because that is the best time to plant them if they are to survive. So it is funded by CRT. We and the council could have insisted that they come back and plant them but we chose not to.

As also explained in this thread, CRT were in the process of re-tilling and seeding the grassed area and the woodland area (with wild flowers) but they were delayed by the weather because their machine was sinking into the ground. If we and the council had not approached them about stopping and asked them to consider turning over the funding to the new project then we would still be expecting them to do that work. As it is we would prefer that they contribute the cost of labour and seed to the new project and we are waiting to hear their offer.

And to cover the final point, CRT did make a payment of approximately £5,000 to the council for using the park as a compound. This was negotiated between the council and CRT and goes into Greenspace's general Neighbourhood Income fund and is not park specific.

Thanks for the update

[admin]

We were told that this area would be returned to its previous state, I.e. trees and shrubs. We have had disruption for 8 months and it has been left in an unkempt state for several months more. Why isn't the canal and river trust funding this? To my mind they should have made a significant contribution in the first place to use the park as a building site.

As explained several times in this thread, new trees and shrubs are to be paid for by CRT. They will be planted in the autumn by the council and Friends of the Park because that is the best time to plant them if they are to survive. So it is funded by CRT. We and the council could have insisted that they come back and plant them but we chose not to.

As also explained in this thread, CRT were in the process of re-tilling and seeding the grassed area and the woodland area (with wild flowers) but they were delayed by the weather because their machine was sinking into the ground. If we and the council had not approached them about stopping and asked them to consider turning over the funding to the new project then we would still be expecting them to do that work. As it is we would prefer that they contribute the cost of labour and seed to the new project and we are waiting to hear their offer.

And to cover the final point, CRT did make a payment of approximately £5,000 to the council for using the park as a compound. This was negotiated between the council and CRT and goes into Greenspace's general Neighbourhood Income fund and is not park specific.

[hatter76]

We were told that this area would be returned to its previous state, I.e. trees and shrubs. We have had disruption for 8 months and it has been left in an unkempt state for several months more. Why isn't the canal and river trust funding this? To my mind they should have made a significant contribution in the first place to use the park as a building site.

[Howard]

What a great idea. Thanks for the update from both of you.

[Karen Webber]

Thanks Mark for signposting me to this conversation.

As Mark said, we are currently looking at ways in which we can fund a wildflower meadow in this space. I have been chatting to a local landscape gardener who is an expert in creating wildflower meadows and we are very excited about the possibilities of this area.

Provided we can get the funding, this will be a great opportunity to involve lots of different members of the local community to learn more about the benefits of wildflowers for the environment.

I am meeting with the landscaper next week to get a better understanding of costs and timelines.

Once there is something concrete to update, I'll do so here! 

[admin]

I walked through the park after being away pretty much all summer. I can see that the area where the equipment for the works was stored has had the topsoil replaced but it still looks pretty awful. What are the plans to return it to its original state?

Until a couple of weeks ago Friends of the Park were in nagging mode, mithering the council to get onto CRT to get things finished.

We were waiting for CRT to re-till the soil and seed the main area with grass seed and the woodland area with wildflower seed. They have been back and tried to do this but because the ground was so wet their machinery sank and caused the large ruts that you can see in a couple of places. So until recently we were waiting for dryer weather so they could return. It had also been agreed that CRT will pay for new trees and shrubs for the woodland area but these will be planted by the council and Friends of the Park in late autumn, which is the best time to do that. This is still the case for that aspect of the reinstatement.

The change that has arisen is a local lady called Karen recently approached Friends of the Park and volunteered to lead a project to create a wildflower meadow somewhere in the park. She would like to get local primary school children involved in the sowing and maintenance and we (Friends of the Park) thought this was a brilliant idea that we would like to support.

A bit more than a week ago I met with Karen, the landscaper she would like to use to do the preparatory work, and Stockport Council's Greenspace Projects Officer responsible for Memorial Park. We all agreed that this would be a great community project and that the best and most obvious location would be the area recently vacated by CRT. So, the council has approached CRT about doing no further work themselves and giving the value of the outstanding work and the seed that they were going to provide to the council to be used by the new wildflower meadow project.

We are currently waiting to learn what value CRT are prepared to offer for this and in the meantime Karen is looking at grant options to also help fund the project. Also in the meantime, the weeds are growing with a vengence and complete disregard for our plans!

It is worth noting that some of the area in question is needed for the fun fair during Marple Carnival and that part of it (very approximately the top third) will be re-seeded with grass and the rest of the area including the woodland section will form the wildflower meadow/woodland project.

I hope that explains what is hoped to happen - we weren't quite ready to make an announcement yet but I didn't want to leave Howard's question unanswered.

[Howard]

I walked through the park after being away pretty much all summer. I can see that the area where the equipment for the works was stored has had the topsoil replaced but it still looks pretty awful. What are the plans to return it to its original state?

[Cyberman]

"Patients" - perhaps they boiled them down for glue to repair the lock gates.

I spent 35 years teaching History and English. Training in the late 1960s-early 1970s it was dinned into us that insisting on good grammar and accurate spelling and punctuation interfered with the pupils' creativity. During my last year at college (1971), while on my final Teaching Practice, I was giving a spelling test, on the instructions of the class teacher, when my College Tutor turned up. After sitting in the classroom during the spelling test she played hell with me and threatened to fail me, not only on that year's Practice  but the whole course!! Fortunately, the class teacher and the Headmaster told her off in no uncertain terms and complained to the College Principal and she backed down.

It doesn't surprise me that otherwise intelligent men and women can't spell!

I'm afraid I was frequently on the carpet, as a qualified teacher, because I insisted on correct spelling and grammar in both English and History written work. It's not surprising then, that towards the end of my working life I worked in a school with a young (30-ish) Headmaster who couldn't spell - He frequently asked me to "mark" his spelling in his correspondence!!

Hope I haven't made any spelling mistakes in this post 

I was going to challenge you on "Dinned" (first line) but it is a real word which I'd never heard before. One for my Scrabble vocabluary.

[My login is Henrietta]

Took a walk around the canal yesterday and have to agree with Admin that the job has been completed to a very high standard indeed, I assume it's because it was a heritage project but you really can't tell that it's not original.......however I spotted this notice on the compound fence, have there been some Doctors (medical) working on the project ?

"Patients" - perhaps they boiled them down for glue to repair the lock gates.

I spent 35 years teaching History and English. Training in the late 1960s-early 1970s it was dinned into us that insisting on good grammar and accurate spelling and punctuation interfered with the pupils' creativity. During my last year at college (1971), while on my final Teaching Practice, I was giving a spelling test, on the instructions of the class teacher, when my College Tutor turned up. After sitting in the classroom during the spelling test she played hell with me and threatened to fail me, not only on that year's Practice  but the whole course!! Fortunately, the class teacher and the Headmaster told her off in no uncertain terms and complained to the College Principal and she backed down.

It doesn't surprise me that otherwise intelligent men and women can't spell!

I'm afraid I was frequently on the carpet, as a qualified teacher, because I insisted on correct spelling and grammar in both English and History written work. It's not surprising then, that towards the end of my working life I worked in a school with a young (30-ish) Headmaster who couldn't spell - He frequently asked me to "mark" his spelling in his correspondence!!

Hope I haven't made any spelling mistakes in this post 

[MarpleHarry]

Took a walk around the canal yesterday and have to agree with Admin that the job has been completed to a very high standard indeed, I assume it's because it was a heritage project but you really can't tell that it's not original.......however I spotted this notice on the compound fence, have there been some Doctors (medical) working on the project ?

[attachment deleted by admin]

[admin]

It was great to see Lock 11 open again yesterday and boats at last passing through the canal.

CRT and their contractors have done a very good job and we look forward to the park being fully reinstated after Marple Carnival.

[amazon]

I assume the footpath that has been damaged with their lorries crossing it will be rebuilt.

Of coarse it will be rebuilt they have not yet reinstated where  there compound was .

[admin]

Just noticed a boat passing through the locks for the first time for nearly a year, can I assume Lock 11 works have been successfully completely and normal service has resumed?

Hi @Randonneur - I've merged your enquiry with the thread about Lock 11 repairs, as it has lots of history about your question. But yes, the locks are open for navigation from today.

[ringi]

I assume the footpath that has been damaged with their lorries crossing it will be rebuilt.

[Randonneur]

Just noticed a boat passing through the locks for the first time for nearly a year, can I assume Lock 11 works have been successfully completely and normal service has resumed?