The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Services – 2007

Seagull Trust Cruises

Free Canal Cruising in Scotland for People with Special Needs

Formerly the Seagull Trust

ã Seagull Trust Cruises
January 2008

Millennium Link

The Millennium Link Project was an exciting, innovative and visionary project to restore the Forth & Clyde and Union Canals to their former glory. The project was launched in October 1994, a Millennium Commission grant of £32 million was confirmed in February 1997 and the final confirmation of all the funding was received in March 1998.

The direct cost of the restoration was just over £78 million. This is being funded by a partnership consisting of the Millennium Commission, Scottish Enterprise and 5 of the Local Enterprise Companies, the European Regional Development Fund, British Waterways and the 7 local councils through whose areas the canals pass.

The Forth & Clyde Canal was completed in 1790 and the Union Canal in 1822.  During their period of commercial operation the two canals, which were linked at Falkirk by a flight of 11 locks which closed in 1933, formed an extremely important transport corridor across Central Scotland.

The two canals fell victim to the roads culture of the 1960’s when they were closed to navigation and broken up into short sections. A 1.7km section of the Union Canal at Wester Hailes in Edinburgh was infilled entirely.

Nevertheless, the canals are Scheduled ancient Monuments and represent a major part of Central Scotland’s industrial heritage. Furthermore since their closure the natural habitats along the canal have flourished and they are now considered as important wildlife corridors.

The plan was to bring the 110 km (69 miles) of canal and towpath, from Glasgow to Edinburgh and the River Forth to the River Clyde back to life by the middle of 2001.  This would involve the removal of 33 obstructions, dredging, renovation of old locks, reconnecting the link between the two canals at Falkirk, repairing the banks and improving the towpath. The most exciting element of this will be the creation of a 25m high wheel at Falkirk for transporting the boats from the level of one canal to the other.

The works started in late 1998 at sites to the north and west of Glasgow on the Forth & Clyde Canal and between the M8 and A801 roads between Edinburgh and Falkirk on the Union Canal. The last project to be completed was to be the new Wheel at Falkirk.

The works were carefully planned in terms of their environmental impact on the canals, not least the dredging to remove 80,000 cubic meters of mercury contaminated silt from a 9 km stretch of the Union Canal. The Forth & Clyde Canal only required spot dredging because it was originally much deeper than the Union Canal.

The restored Canals will have maximum dimensions as follows:

Forth & Clyde: Length: 20.88m (68’ 6”)  Width: 6.00m (19’ 8”)  Depth: 1.83m (6’ 0”)   Max Headroom: 3.00m (9’ 10”)   Union Canal: Length: 21.33m (70’ 0”)    Width: 3.81m (12’ 6”)    Depth: 1.06m (3’ 6”)   Max Headroom: 2.70m (8’ 10”)

         The Falkirk Wheel is capable of carrying the largest boats that are able to use the Union Canal.

During the course of the Millennium Link Project many varied ideas and designs were put forward for the Falkirk Wheel, that would be used to transport canal boats between the Union and Forth & Clyde Canals. The two pictures below show the design architects’ vision of the Wheel which, as can now be seen, is almost exactly what has been built.

The Falkirk Wheel was the last major project in the regeneration of the Lowland Canals and was opened by Her Majesty The Queen on the 24th May 2002.

The restoration of the two canals will provide economic benefits to the surrounding communities and to Scotland as a whole, in two ways.  Firstly jobs and investment created directly from the engineering works and environmental improvements associated with the project.  Secondly, and most importantly, the initiative will act as a catalyst for new developments and tourist projects right across Central Scotland, leading to further employment and commercial opportunities.

Economic studies have shown that the Millennium Link Project should ultimately create over 4000 new additional equivalent full time jobs, net of all displacement and £24 million a year from visitors spending money in the local economy.

Tourism studies have forecast that in the first five years the Millennium Link will attract 600 craft moored permanently on the canals, 500 craft passing through the Forth & Clyde Canal to get from one side of the country to the other, six new trip boats, two new restaurant boats and 40 to 60 boats available for weekly hire. Walking and cycling visitors to the canals are forecast to increase by 3.5 million over 5 years.

The Millennium Link has many other benefits not least the increased opportunities that will be created through the Project for local people to enjoy the amenity of the canals, schools to use them for educational projects and the overall improvements in the  environment of the canals which will benefit people and wildlife alike.