Waterway could 'mitigate' flooding of major roads

Simon Clewlow said "I'm feeling very enthusiastic and very keen that the time for this project has come"

The chairman of a charity started 30 years ago to build a £300m waterway says "the time for this project has come" after heavy rainfall caused flooding and a major road to shut for two weeks.

Simon Clewlow, chairman of Bedford and Milton Keynes Waterway Trust (BMKW), said connecting the River Great Ouse in Bedford to the Grand Union Canal in Milton Keynes meant water could be held "where it is wanted".

He said the waterway park would "mitigate the impact of flooding and mitigate the impact of water shortages".

It would provide leisure activities as well as a chance for nature to "recover", he added. "We believe that the time for the waterway has come."

An artists impression of what the waterway in Fields Road, Wootton, could look like

Mr Clewlow said some of the biggest issues over the past few weeks locally was "managing floodwater and surface water".

He explained one section could link Stewartby Lake with Brogborough Lake, which is less prone to flooding, "so it doesn't come down the Marston Vale and flood the A421".

It would hold "the water there until flood levels drop and released back to Stewartby Lake".

Part of the A421, by Marston Moretaine, in Bedfordshire, closed on 22 September for two weeks after a month's worth of rain fell in under 48 hours.

In 2009, an underbridge was built under the A421 in readiness for the waterway

The chairman added that the scheme, which was initially due to cost £200m but had since risen to about £300m, had the support of the three council's it would pass through, namely, Bedford Borough, Central Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes.

The next stage is to build "a demonstration section of the waterway in the Wootton area of Bedford", he said.

He said the rest could be build in sections as some infrastructure was already in place and the scheme had been included in local planning applications.

The BMKW charity runs two boats, the John Bunyan, which navigates the River Great Ouse in Bedford, and Electra MK in Milton Keynes

"The project could be the game changer when it comes to enabling nature to recover it would provide a continuous thread through the three boroughs", Mr Clewlow said.

"We have the opportunity to mitigate the impact of flooding and mitigate the impact of water shortages, provide much more water resilience to everybody, not just within the area between Milton Keynes and Bedford but beyond and into Cambridgeshire."

The water levels of the River Great Ouse by Kempton Mill, have been higher than normal due to the recent floods