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Multi-million pound impact of Bedford and Milton Keynes Waterway: New Economic Assessment

Huge potential benefits from the proposed Bedford and Milton Keynes Waterway are emerging as the result of an economic impact assessment which has started to quantify the scale of the project.

Over a ten-year period visitors to the Waterway and linked facilities, could pump between £167 million and £265 million into the local economy, whilst “place-shaping”, including attracting new businesses and additional economic activity, could generate as much as £97 million to £373 million.

The findings to date have been accepted by the Waterway Partnership Board. The assessment is being carried out by Diarmid Hearns and Willie Macleod, of SQW Consulting, specialists in economic and social developments. The new waterway has a strategic fit regionally in terms of sustainable transport, including freight, flood alleviation and water management.

Welcoming the report, Jane Wolfson, Waterway Partnership Trust Chair, commented: “We are seeing how the Waterway will shape the locality with a unique sense of identity and place, as well as linking communities across the region. With opportunities for innovation and regeneration, the project is well placed to assist economic recovery and sustained growth.”

The vision is to create a series of waterway parks which, in turn, are capable of hosting iconic structures and destination points along the route. This report emphasises that a waterway which is only a “trench”, without additional facilities would have only limited impact. Therefore, incorporating features to attract and capture visitors will be critical to achieving good economic impact for the project, which will run 26km from the junction with the Grand Union Canal in Milton Keynes to the junction with the Great Ouse at Kempston.

The greatest level of economic impact will be achieved where additional facilities are provided for visitors to spend their money. Locations where tourists and day visitors can take part in, or watch others participating in canal-based activity, will generate greatest appeal. Rural and urban waterside environments will create a 26 km “open gym” alongside high quality business and leisure locations.

A kick-start for the project would be the linking of the Grand Union Canal with Willen Lake in Milton Keynes, together with other leisure facilities to create a focal point for the new waterway. Other options might be to enhance current facilities at Marston Vale Forest Park.

Another feature for consideration could be an “iconic structure” close to Junction 13 of the M1, comparable in scale to the Falkirk Wheel - the world’s only rotating boat lift and capable of lifting eight vessels at a time. Depending on the scale of possible hotel, retail and other developments, such a structure could “brand” the project whilst generating significant numbers of visitors, tourists and residents to the area – all within a two-hour drive for half the population of the UK. This would have the potential to create a visible, national gateway to Milton Keynes in the west, and Bedford in the east.

The report states that there is good evidence to show that high quality natural environments, opportunities for recreation and place perceptions influence businesses, families and individuals in their choice of locations, all of which place-shape an area. Therefore, the new waterway could also have a significant impact on new and existing job opportunities.