Rochdale Canal Towpath To Be Gated

THIS FROM the Council. More fences and gates.

Public rights of way are things we close at our peril. In the near future Library Walk will be closed for certain night hours now we have this proposal. 

‘Residents and businesses are being asked for their views on plans to place overnight barriers on a city centre canal towpath where members of the public have drowned.

‘The City Council is planning to install the gates, blocking off a stretch of the Rochdale Canal between Dale Street and Minshull Street known as the undercroft from 7pm-7am.

‘Three people have drowned in the canal there over the past two years, and robberies have also taken place at the location.’

Schemes such as brighter lights and CCTV are deemed to have failed. Other ideas are said to have been considered including ‘extra lifesaving equipment and chains which people can use to pull themselves out of the canal’. 

Because of the public right of way along the towpath here – one that’s been in place for over 200 years – the council along with the police, the fire service and the people who manage waterways such as the Rochdale Canal are arranging a ‘consultation’ about gating the area for 12 hours each day. 

Chair of Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Authority David Acton said: "Our crews attend more water incidents in Manchester City Centre than anywhere else in Greater Manchester. 

"Firefighters have attended incidents where people have drowned or suffered life changing injuries on this section of the Rochdale Canal. 

"These proposals will keep people safer in the city centre and give our crews a welcome respite from the often devastating circumstances they face when they rescue someone, or recover a body from this section of canal." 

David Baldacchino, waterway manager at the Canal & River Trust said: "We are committed to ensuring that the 200 year-old Rochdale Canal can be enjoyed safely by the local community and visitors. We are very concerned about the incidents on the Rochdale Canal and how they have worsened recently in this area. 

"Over the years we have tried a number of things to improve this part of the canal but without success. Working in partnership with the Council, Police, Fire and Rescue and others, we believe that we can only make a difference by taking more significant action and gating off this section overnight is the next step." 

Councillor Pat Karney, Manchester’s city centre spokesman, said: "This area has been the site of some very sad incidents in which people have been confronted by criminals, have ended up in the water and lost their lives. 

"We’re determined to make the area as safe as possible and, after working with other organisations to see what can be done, we’ve come to the conclusion that closing the undercroft at night is the only way to guarantee people’s safety. 

Given the clean sweep of interested authorities the consultation sounds like a rubber stamp affair. 

But despite that, sensible. 

Gating off the twilight world of the undercroft between Minshull Street and Dale Street might be the only solution. It can be horrible. This writer once took a tour of elderly ramblers for an urban stroll and disturbed a couple of men engaged in a sexual act. It was 2pm on a Thursday – consternation amongst the pensioners. 

But there is a caution too. 

Public rights of way are things we close at our peril. In the near future Library Walk will be closed for certain night hours – gated at one end, glassed in at the other – now we have this proposal. 

Putting fences and gates up across awkward city centre rights of way is not an enticing prospect. Balancing safety issues with long held liberties – in this case 210 years of access – is a difficult trick. We need to be on guard that authorities and public bodies and agencies don’t use closure of public rights of way as a short-cut to cost-cutting, that there is real need and watertight arguments in doing so.