Topic: | Re:Re:enough history, this is 2010 | |
Posted by: | Anthony Waller | |
Date/Time: | 22/01/10 15:04:00 |
History is important. Brentford is at the head of the Grand Union Canal and it was always an industrial town. It's geographic location brought this about and this will always be a factor in what may happen in the future. What we do know is that the future of road haulage is limited within this lifetime and already road hauliers are looking into other methods, rail is the obvious but already so much of the rail freight handling infrastructure has widely been removed and redeveloped to the degree that it is no longer possible to reinstate it. Canals, long neglected, therefore do have a use for large volumes of haulage, aggregates being the foremost. The infrastructure is more or less intact and it is indeed the myopic vision of planners and fast buck mentality of developers that has led to building developments that are trendy but not practical. That's not to say they should not be built but they have to allow the space and acceptance of the potential return to heavier use or alternative heavier use. It could be in a worst case scenario that the canal network would be the only energy efficient method to distribute heavy haulage and if this became a reality then compulsory purchase and demolition of developments would become inevitable as the nations economy would be considered of far more importance. So the functioning and remaining canal infrastructure should be ringfenced as should sites like Commerce road because it will sooner or later be needed. It's the same as the football ground, It's been there almost as long as the homes around it, The canal and it's associated industries have been there longer than those around it. If you don't like it or don't want it then you can choose to not live there. |