Re: Re: well what about the developments popping up in the shannonside ?
@Tuborg wrote:
Photos of the Canal and walkway from the city centre to Plassey can be found here
Tuborg, good to see the canal project moving on. (Official start November 2003!) Progress has been very slow to say the least? Probably due to the delays in constructing the Corbally Link Road / bridge. Having said that the stretch of canal between the railway-bridge and Guinness foot-bridge (St.Patrick’s GAA Club) could had been done first.
The recent photos reveal bushes and trees planted on the slopes of the canal which will certainly re-strangle the waterway! Are they serious about using the canal as a waterway for boats or what? I would have preferred to have seen the slopes of the canal kept as grass margins and the planting of trees along the canal kept to outer boundaries instead.
The success of the canal in my opinion will come down to maintenance. The whole stretch of the canal and the O’Brien Park should be integrated into one parkland zone, as the canal would benefit from the same higher maintenance standard that the city parks have always enjoyed. What role will the Waterways of Ireland play here? Maintainence of the locks? The water level appears also to be low.
Images from Buildings of Ireland. Old canal image.
A 25 cent refundable deposit charge on drinking cans, plastic bottles etc, would go a long way in keeping the locks litter-free. An investment in five metre poles with nets to scoop up litter from the locks would also help.
I see that there are also plans for creating a canal basin (marina?). The wetlands to the rear of St Mary’s Secondary School would be an obvious choice. My overall impression from the photos in this link still show the canal in a “raw†regenerated state! 😮 I personally would not be to hurried in inviting back the other EU participants (Water in Historic City Centres) from Chester (GB), Breda and ‘s-Hertogenbosch (NL) and Gent and Mechelen (B) to show what we have achieved so far.
