Boating will return to Walsall Arboretum lake
Boating at Walsall Arboretum lake will return after an absence of almost two decades, it has emerged.
The landmark boathouse has been restored as part of the £7.5 million transformation being carried out at the town's premier park.
The idea of boating returning to Hatherton Lake was first mooted in 2011, and Walsall Council has now revealed it is looking for a business or private operator to revive the tradition.
Boating was banned on health and safety grounds after the 1996 death of 15-year-old Surinder Singh Somal, from Birmingham.
Latest moves to bring back boating were revealed following a question to last night's full council meeting from Tony Gray, of the Jerome K Jerome Society, which was set up in honour of the author of Three Men in a Boat.
He asked if rowing boats would be reinstated in the boathouse after up to several dozen had been used in previous decades.
Leisure chief councillor Anthony Harris said: "I really want this, you are pushing against an open door. I am keen to restore boating to the lake which I am sure would be very popular with users of the arboretum.
"Of course we have to make sure that the site is safe, it is a very, very deep pool."
As part of the safety checks are expected to be the recovery of scaffolding from the former illuminations events which is believed to have become submerged.
Once deemed safe the authority will look to seek someone to take on the running of boats. "I will be inviting expressions of interest from people who would like to operate boating," councillor Harris added.
