River Keekle restoration project
I attended a display and guided walk today organised by the West Cumbria Rivers Trust to inform residents about the River Keekle Restoration Project.
The river near Moresby Parks was lined with plastic in the 1990s amid fears that possible future erosion could expose deeply-buried mine waste underneath.
This policy was a total failure - if there is any risk of contamination the plastic failed to protect against it because within two years it started to break up. Instead it became a hazard to the environment itself.
Pieces of plastic are being washed downstream, creating blockages, localised flooding and plastic pollution. It has also created an artificial environment and, to be quite candid, looks a total mess.
There is now a £1.5 million scheme to remove the plastic which will start this year.
The river near Moresby Parks was lined with plastic in the 1990s amid fears that possible future erosion could expose deeply-buried mine waste underneath.
This policy was a total failure - if there is any risk of contamination the plastic failed to protect against it because within two years it started to break up. Instead it became a hazard to the environment itself.
Pieces of plastic are being washed downstream, creating blockages, localised flooding and plastic pollution. It has also created an artificial environment and, to be quite candid, looks a total mess.
There is now a £1.5 million scheme to remove the plastic which will start this year.
Comments
When are Cumbria CC going to get the Keekle Head site reinstated?
When are the promised rights of way and cycleway in the valley going to be delivered?
2) As anyone who knows enough about it to ask that question will almost certainly already be well aware, there is an incredibly long and complex history on the Keekle Head site, most of which long pre-dates my moving to West Cumbria in 2004. I have asked what is the current position in respect of restoration and reinstatement at this location.