Information on Loughborough

Blueprint to boost waterside's popularity

Posted on 28/08/2009

Leicestershire Councty Council Cabinet Office

28 August 2009

Blueprint to boost waterside's popularity

A new visitor centre, support for wildlife and improvements for boaters, walkers and cyclists are among the measures in a new waterways strategy.

Leicestershire County Council’s Cabinet is due to endorse a strategy covering 23 miles of the River Soar and Grand Union Canal, between Kilby Bridge in the south and Loughborough Meadows in the north.

Key proposals include:

  • Improving access and signage for pedestrians, cyclists and boaters
  • Linking up wildlife sites as a continuous corridor
  • Promoting visitor destinations and facilities, such as cafes and cycle and boat hire
  • Developing a new visitor centre at Watermead Country Park
  • A design guide, to inspire waterside development
  • Creating a waterway partnership to deliver the strategy.

Ernie White, Cabinet member for Better Places, said: “The waterway is a beautiful asset and this strategy should help us to ensure that we make the most of it, to support recreation, wildlife and the right kind of waterside development.”

The Cabinet meets to discuss the strategy at 2.30pm on September 8. If it is adopted by other partners, including waterways bodies, councils, Prospect Leicestershire and the Environment Agency, it will be launched in October.