Community adopts stretch of canal in Walsall
Dedicated climate change activists have adopted a near-two mile stretch of canal in Walsall in a bid to enhance their environment.
Paddock Active Climate Change Group will take care of Locks 1 to 9 of Rushall Canal with the aim of improving the quality of the area and encourage more birds, insects and plants.
Group chairman Martin McCluney said they wanted to increase the different species at the canal and reverse global trends which are seeing numbers dwindle as a result of climate change.
The Canal and River Trust presented a certificate of adoption to the group, which is one of around 60 in the West Midlands to go through the process.
Currently, there are 40 members in the group and they will carry out regular jobs and activities on the stretch of canal such as litter-picking, painting locks and mooring posts and maintaining brickwork.
They are also working with the neighbouring Park Hall Junior Academy, Walsall Housing Group and Walsall Against Single Use Plastic.
Mr McCluney said: “The adoption means we have almost two miles of the waterways of the country, called the Rushall Canal, and it is nearly 200 years old and has nine locks.
“All of these locks plus the tow-path and surrounding embankments need looking after.
“There is a team from the Canal and River Trust whose major responsibility is to tend to those things. But they have about 30 miles of canal to take care of.
“So everyone who comes along and says ‘I’ll help out there’ is greatly appreciated
“We have a green corridor which has many difference species of plants and animals and we want to know how many, how successful they are and whether we can improve the environment.
“We put in more native wildflowers, we encourage native birds by putting up nesting boxes, we encourage insect life by putting up insect hotels.
“Also, we are concerned about the quality of the air, water, soil.”
Andy Whitehouse, Volunteer Development Coordinator at the Canal & River Trust, said they support people who want to adopt parts of the waterways.
He said: “What we are trying to do throughout the trust is when people come to our access points, their first impressions when they walk on is ‘hey this is nice, I’ll spend more time here’.
“We make sure the group is safe in what they are doing. Once you’ve become adopters, you look after yourself. We work in the background with you so if you need us for things, we are there.
“Not only are we getting benefits of people doing all this lovely work for us but we get them coming out in the fresh air, meeting others, exercising. Life is better by water.”
