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Publication Date: 10 October 2008
The Bedford - Milton Keynes Canal came a bit nearer to commencement on the ground when councillors at Bedford borough council voted for a proposal which could see the first cut built one year from now.
Balfour Beatty, the company dualling the A421 to junction 13, will need clay soil to build the embankments alongside the new road. The easiest and cheapest way would be to dig what is known as a ‘borrow pit’ in the council-owned Berry Wood, Wootton, which is near the line of the road. This would leave a hole in the ground which would soon become a lake.
On the table were four alternatives as to how this might be paid for: Balfour Beatty could pay £100,000 cash for the soil and do minimal remedial work, or it could build some infrastructure which could lead to the lake becoming a leisure amenity and harden up the access which its lorries would use to make a road into the wood. Councillors voted unanimously that in return for the soil Balfour Beatty should cut the first 500 yards of canal.
Bedford-Milton Keynes waterway group will need to get planning permission and technical details approved by September 30 next year. However, by Christmas 2009 the first length of the first new canal to be built in Britain in 200 years could be cut.
