Spondon Linear Park

Being fully convinced of the economic and environmental benefits of a fully-functioning canal to the local area, the Village Improvement Committee is working with the Derby & Sandiacre Canal Society in their efforts to re-open this waterway. During 2004, the VIC started to plan for an early opening of the stretch of canal through Spondon as a "linear park". To this end, a public meeting was held at the Moon Hotel on May 27^th 2004, attracting over 80 people. There was great support for the idea, with a number of suggestions for features to be incorporated.

Project Manager

The Canal Society announced a real breakthrough with the appointment of a full-time project manager, Rob Hartley, funded by a grant from East Midlands Development Agency. This was publicised in the Derby Evening Telegraph. And the first stretch to be opened will be the "Spondon mile"!

Rainbow bridge

In July 2007, the SCA obtained a grant of £3000 from Small Change, part of Derby City Partnership, to produce a mural on the bridge over the canal at Station Road, Spondon. Over the decades the bridge had suffered badly from graffiti, and was beyond just cleaning (see below).

The grant funded work by community artists, Di Shepherd and Steve Coley from Artblock and we asked the pupils of Asterdale School in Spondon to come up with some ideas for them to work from. Before that could happen, we were helped by the Probation Service who brought along some groups of people serving community service orders, who did some scrub clearance and put on a white base coat (using paint supplied by the Community Safety Partnership.)

Artblock worked on the bridge for the first 2 weeks in August, 2007 with the end result shown here. While they were working they got a lot of positive comments and support from passers-by, including local children. It was one of them that suggested that it should be called "Rainbow bridge", and so it was!

Unfortunately, we suffered an early graffiti attack but this will be repaired in the Spring, together with an anti-graffiti coating donated by the Community Safety Partnership.

SCAN article (June 2007)

It may seem that all has gone very quiet about the restoration of the canal in Spondon, but there has been a lot of activity “beneath the surface”!
The Community Association has been present at a number of meetings that have recently been held with the Canal Society, the Probation Service and the City Council Parks Department and whilst there is still a lot of uncertainty, there is now light at the end of the tunnel….

In the longer term, and to demonstrate their ability and progress, particularly to Derby City Council, The Canal Trust has decided that they will make an application for major funding this year and it is most likely that the ‘Spondon Mile’ will be the first section within the city boundary to be restored. It is their hope that the diggers will be seen within the next 2 years! And to demonstrate their commitment, the Canal Society leaflet (available from the Library) now features Spondon on the front cover!
There now needs to be a complex ballet of interlinked movements such as:

including an application for funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund for a possible development in Draycott, funding from another source for a project manager to cover both this and the Spondon project, negotiations to sell the “infill” from canal excavations and all the pre-requisite paperwork.

An urgent requirement before work can start on the Spondon stretch is an agreed source of water. We have been informed that some funds may be available as a result of the Barratt’s development on Anglers Lane (which is envisaged in the photo below) and we have asked the local councillors that it be devoted to the canal restoration. This could be used to fund a water engineering study to find a water source solution.

Strata Developments have got acceptance for their planning application to develop a housing estate on the land adjoining Station Road. They have been approached by the Canal Trust and are very supportive (and this may also be a funding source).
Despite appearances to the contrary, the “marina development” is still alive and we are expecting to see more tangible progress in the next few months. This development may also provide a solution to the “water source problem”. We are still optimistic that this development will eventually provide an appropriate site for the Severn-Trent clock, together with interpretation boards designed by students of West Park School.

In the short term, the Probation Service has agreed (and, indeed, have already started) a programme of works using people serving Community Service Orders. They will tidy the whole length, but concentrate on the Station Road-B&Q stretch, which will be part of the Britain in Bloom judges’ route. They will work with the Parks Department (who will continue to mow, as well as provide rubbish clearance) and Canal Society (who can provide trained chainsaw operators for heavy clearing).

One eyesore in that stretch is the Station Road bridge that has been subject to years of graffiti attack. It will be some years until it will look like the picture above, a rather than try to clean it, we are hoping to replace it with some more tasteful artwork. We have applied to the Small Change panel for a grant to fund Artblock (a community arts group) to work with pupils of Asterdale School in designing a replacement mural. Again, the Probation Service will help, by providing labour to clear the undergrowth around the bridge and lay on a base coat (with paint supplied by the Community Safety Partnership). This will complement the similar project being undertaken by the Community Safety Partnership at the tunnel under the A52.

As another element of our attempts to regenerate the Stoney Cross area, we did investigate the “Adopt a station” initiative run by Central Trains. However, after giving leaflets to all the passengers who used Spondon station in a day, we got very few offers of help and we have reluctantly had to shelve the idea for the time being.

On a more positive note, our canal walk (part of the “Lets go wild in Derby” programme) attracted over 30 people, some of whom didn’t realise the canal existed!

New information boards

There are now two information boards installed giving details of the plans for Spondon Linear Park, funded by the City Council Area Panel 1. Click on the thumbnail (left) for a larger picture of the actual boards.

One is sited on Megaloughton Lane (pictured right) at the start of the footpath (adjacent to the entrance to B&Q).

The second is further along the canal route, close to where is crosses Angler's Lane (pictured left).

These boards are the first visible signs "on site" of our plans for the canal route in Spondon and will hopefully attract attention - and support!

Canal route

The full route of the map is shown below (reproduced from the Canal Society website).

Take a look at the pictures below (courtesy of Doug Flack and the Canal Society) for an "artist's impression" of what the canal will look like when it's re-opened through Spondon!

Take a look at the other major VIC projects (Chapel Lane cemetery refurbishment,  the Severn-Trent clock, West Park Meadows Local Nature Reserve, and the Village History Trail) or past and planned events.