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HISTORY
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The
Loughborough Canal and Boat Festival began
originally in 1997 as a one-off event to keep the
canal in the public eye because, at the end of 1996,
the headline in the local paper “The Loughborough
Echo” reported that there was a proposal to build
the inner relief road over the canal wharf and
basin. As a protest, local boaters organised a rally
in the basin during January 1997 which attracted 45
boats and 2,000 townsfolk. A petition started that
day soon amassed 6,000 signatures and letters of
support appeared in the “Echo”. In the meantime,
even though the rally had been a success, we felt
that we needed to keep the momentum going, hence the
festival was born. The first one was held Easter
Sunday 1997 and was a great success. |
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Later that year a public
inquiry was held and, with increased pressure from
all concerned, the transport committee at County
Hall agreed in August to move the road reservation,
saving the majority of the canal and wharf. Our
objective realised, we thought that was end of that
but public demand asked for the festival to be
brought back again the following year and has since
become a regular yearly event. It is now a 2-day
festival over the May Day holiday weekend, with
countless boats mooring for over a mile along
Loughborough’s towpath.
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Since the wharf was “saved”,
British Waterways Government subsidies for repairs
and maintenance have been drastically cut forcing
them to realise some of its best assets. This has
resulted in places, such as Loughborough wharf,
being sold off to developers. Before the developers
could proceed, 3 planning meetings took place which went
to a crucial final vote. Pressure groups aiming
to keep the historical aspect were disappointed but
the canal festival organisers have embraced the new
student flats development utilising all aspects of
the ground and water space to great effect. As of
the new year 2010, the land adjacent Bridge Street
is still to be developed but it is to be hoped that
the organisers’ co-operation with existing tenants
can be extended to this area when built.
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