A NEW group has been formed aiming to reverse years of neglect to Warrington’s only riverside meadow and a historic canal – helping to restore the town’s battered reputation on heritage.
The New Cut Heritage and Ecology Group has already started work cleaning up Paddington Meadows and the New Cut Canal at Woolston.
Litter has been collected and wildflowers planted by working parties organised by the group.
A formal constitution has been adopted and Ian Johnston has been elected chairman. Lynda Eagan is vice chairman and most members are from the Paddington and Woolston areas.
Mr Johnston said: “Since we began to highlight the neglected state of the area and work with council officials, there has been considerable progress both maintaining and improving the appearance and the access to
facilities and there is a lot more we can do. The New Cut canal, ‘the M62 of the 18th Century’ is probably the last substantial remaining section of the Mersey and Irwell Navigation.
“With so much heritage in place and waiting to be uncovered the town is beginning to realise that this heritage has to be protected”
The group have worked extensively with borough council officials, park rangers, and community groups to shift many bin bags of rubbish from the canal bed while council officials have secured funding from external bodies to improve pedestrian access to the meadows.
Currently the group are in discussion with the Environment Agency over the impact of flood defences on heritage artefacts in the area,
They are already having an influence in protecting the area from developments not conducive to preserving its history.
The group says the recent survey by the Royal Society of Arts, which placed Warrington in the bottom five of 325 towns for heritage, under-estimated Warrington because privately owned canals were not taken into account.
They aim to improve the town’s performance in the next survey.
Some of the rubbish collected by volunteers
