Can a Canal Save a Town?

Unfortunately this is the same in the majority of town centres up and down the country. With retail shopping moving more and more to online, large food supermarkets and retail parks being on the edge of towns with free parking, i think councils have run out of ideas of how to turn the town centres into something else that would make people go there and spend their hard earned money. Weaving the canal into a redevelopment is a great idea, would love to see what else they have planned, then they can tell the Councillors in Stoke…

I always thought this canal restoration was one of the most interesting, glad to see a change of local government may make allow to make it happen. It would be interesting to see a comparison with the Derby Canal. TBH, I can't see that ever getting anywhere. There are too many grandiose plans, like a canal lift to take narrow boats from the canal onto the River Derwent, but this ignores that the canal through Derby has been built on, and there is nowhere it can go, especially around the A52 Corridor.

I do not live in Swindon, but your passion is clear. Lots of towns and cities have been distroyed by drugs and underinvestment. Funny government can still afford big cars ( question who pays the ulez) plus there security. They would not need the second if they looked after the people not there own arse. Sorry your rant better but you ken the truth.

Property developers- greedy millionaires.

Really great video, let’s hope town council and planners see this in depth emotive and thoroughly researched idea of breathing life back into Swindon, well done

Great video. Unfortunately, mention Heritage in Swindon and people just think railway. Mention canal and people think drunks falling in and shopping trolleys. Extending the canal from Kingshill to Wharf Green would be a tremendous achievement but I honestly can’t see it continuing further through the centre and beyond.

If you want to support the project you can join the Wilts and Berks Canal Trust from £1.50 per month. The link is here

https://www.wbct.org.uk/get-involved/join

What a great video I moved ftom Swindon over 20 years ago and can’t believe the dereliction from your film The IWA in Manchester organised a trip for the planners and councillors to visit Birmingham to view Gas Street and Farmer bridge in 1968. It made a huge difference to their viewpoint on the Ashton Canal Things have grown sinde then. Maybe a before and after preemption to show to show the planners ?the v

Thank you Stephen for this tremendous presentation of what could happen with a degree of enlightenment.

Beavan's Bridge was mostly destroyed by British troops artillery practice during WWII. It was rebuilt by Trust Volunteers, using existing stone, and new Cotswold stone for the millennium. It was modeled on Marsh Farm Bridge, which was contemporary to Beavan's Bridge = c 1803/4.

To the best of my knowledge , Bevans Bridge was Blown up by British sappers during the war as practice.
It was rebuilt by a father and son volunteers and team in 2000.

I hope your Labour council are more interested in heritage than ours are in Oldham. Ours seem to be proactively destroying everything of any historical interest in this town to replace it with HMO’s, chicken shops and Turkish barbers. Listed supposedly protected buildings “fall down” in the middle of the night. Literally the same night that I saw a group of smartly dressed official looking people snooping around the grounds with clip boards and hard hats acting quite suspiciously. They were kind of hiding their faces when I showed an interest in what they were doing. I thought it was just rude until the place fell down that night, I’m not even making this up. I’m not one for conspiracy theories or gossip, but I saw this with my own eyes. It was an old church, it’s now being made into a car park. We’ve got a HMO full of bag heads across the road from my work, another full of people straight out of prison and another massive one 100 yards up the road being finished which will be full of god knows what rejects they can find to stick in there.

Place has become a right hole

I don't u need to apologize mate, Swindon was a nice place to live in the late 80's, but I find it hard going to visit now.

Great video. The centre looks worse than when i was there 3 years ago, fingers crossed it can only improve hereafter. Hope that the council include a clauses that not just protects the line of the canal but the restoration of it as part of their planning permission for all developments. This scheme m would provide those people in the 750 flats a place they can recharge their mental and physical well-being. Couple this social benefit to the environmental and economic benefits the canal would bring, seems the obvious choice. Pray common sense prevails.