Latest news with #canal
BBC News
2 days ago
- Automotive
- BBC News
Woman rescued after car plunges into Bridgewater Canal in Stretford
A woman has been rescued after her car plunged into a canal and sank below the surface. The white Audi vehicle ended up in the Bridgewater Canal after colliding with a van on Edge Lane in Stretford, Greater Manchester, shortly after 08:30 BST. Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Service (GMFRS) said the car had fallen from a bridge overlooking the canal and she was rescued by an off-duty crash resulted in a major emergency service response involving the fire service, Greater Manchester Police and the North West Ambulance Service. GMFRS said two fire engines and a water incident unit were deployed to the scene. They said: "One woman was rescued by an off-duty firefighter before the attendance of emergency services, with firefighters working alongside GMP, NWAS and the Canal and River Trust to make the area safe. "Crews were in attendance for an hour and a half."A police spokesperson said the woman had been taken to hospital as a precaution. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Manchester on BBC Sounds and follow BBC Manchester on Facebook, X, and Instagram, and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer.
BBC News
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
BBC announces California Avenue, a new drama from Hugo Blick starring Bill Nighy, Helena Bonham Carter, Erin Doherty, and Tom Burke
The BBC has announced California Avenue, a new drama from the BAFTA-award winning writer and director Hugo Blick (The English, The Honourable Woman, Marion and Geoff) for BBC iPlayer and BBC One. This six-part series brings together a star cast led by multi-award winners Bill Nighy (Living, About Time) and Helena Bonham Carter (The Crown, Nolly) alongside Erin Doherty (The Crown, Adolescence) and Tom Burke (Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, The Souvenir). California Avenue will be produced by Drama Republic, makers of One Day and Doctor Foster. California Avenue is a story brimming with humour and love. Set in a secluded canal-side caravan park deep in the luscious English countryside, its peace is irrevocably disrupted by the arrival of Lela (Erin Doherty) and her 11-year-old child, both on the run, looking for refuge in this hidden world. It is here that a fractured family will come together, ghosts and demons will firmly be put to rest and an unexpected love is forged. Bill Nighy and Helena Bonham Carter star as Jerry and Eddie, Lela's parents, while Tom Burke co-stars as showman outcast, Cooper. The series is the latest collaboration between Hugo Blick, Drama Republic, Eight Rooks and the BBC following The English, The Honourable Woman and Black Earth Rising. Writer, director and executive producer for Eight Rooks, Hugo Blick says: 'Over the past few decades, whether through comedy, political dramas or even a western, I've looked to explore what television fiction can be. California Avenue is an exploration of the people who inspired me to want to do this.' Executive producer and Drama Republic co-founder Greg Brenman, says: 'In California Avenue, Hugo has conjured a world of precious relationships and unexpected revelations, all delivered with a big, big heart and generous humour. If you ever needed reminding of Hugo's incredible range as a storyteller, look no further.' Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama, says: "Hugo Blick has given us some of the finest television of the past three decades and it's an honour to join forces with him alongside Bill, Helena, Erin, Tom and Drama Republic to take BBC viewers on the journey of a lifetime to 1970s California Avenue." California Avenue (6x60) is created, written, and directed by Hugo Blick. The producer is Colin Wratten (The English, Lockerbie: A Search for Truth), and the executive producers are Hugo Blick for Eight Rooks, Greg Brenman for Drama Republic, Bill Nighy, Helena Bonham Carter, and Lucy Richer for the BBC. The series is produced by Drama Republic. Mediawan Rights and Entourage Media will distribute the series internationally. Filming begins later this summer in and around Hertfordshire and further casting will be announced in due course. California Avenue will premiere on BBC iPlayer and BBC One. SH2 Follow for more
BBC News
6 days ago
- BBC News
Huddersfield canal towpath upgrade to improve accessibility
Work to improve accessibility along a six-mile (9.5km) stretch of canal has begun, with more than £3m being spent on repair work along the Huddersfield Narrow Canal and Huddersfield Broad Canal is being undertaken by the Canal and River Trust (CRT) in partnership with Kirklees Council and West Yorkshire Combined enterprise manager Mark Robinson said the work would focus on opening up the towpaths to more said: "In a number of places we've got some quite tight barriers. We're going to be taking those out and where we've got steps we're going to be trying to remove those to make it flat." "It will be an all-weather surface, so it's going to be constructed of tarmac laid on a stone surface, much like you would get on the road," he said."To all intents and purposes, it looks like a natural surface but it's very robust. We're not going to have to do anything to it for next 25 years hopefully. And it's suitable for walkers, wheelchair, push chair users and cycles." The work also includes widening the towpaths, where possible, while retaining heritage features, grass verges, and native plants and trees to support wildlife habitats; repairs to the canal walls; and new mooring bollards for resurfacing is the final stage of a five-year, three-phase project, which has seen the walkway made passable from Huddersfield to Standedge Tunnel - the UK's longest, deepest and highest canal work, which also includes construction of a ramp at Scarwood Bridge, is expected to continue until October along the Huddersfield Broad Canal the path is being improved from Aspley Basin to Cooper Bridge, where the canal joins the Calder and Hebble project starts in mid-June and is expected to finish in January the works, both the towpaths will remain open, but with restrictions - meaning people will be escorted through the sites for the scheme has come from West Yorkshire's Active Travel Fund, which is grant funding provided by Active Travel England. Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
Telegraph
09-06-2025
- Telegraph
The beautiful Welsh canal that's fighting closure
Setting off in a hired narrowboat, there is a choice of two directions: left or right. From Beacon Park Boats, on the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal near Llangattock, one direction – according to the company's illustrated map – promises 'a totally relaxed, stress-free and lock-free weekend'. The sales pitch for the other direction (north) read: 'Tackle the Llangyndir lock-flight'. There are few weekends during which I enjoy any kind of tackling. But that is the direction we chose. Meanwhile, a group of youngsters – first-time boaters, unlike our party – headed south with copious bottles of alcohol cooling in an ice-box on their back deck. It started well. In the company of Sam, a member of staff from whom we learnt the ropes, we cruised past historic lime kilns, around bends and under old stone bridges. A flat-topped mountain and escarpments rose high above us. We moored opposite a sloping field of bleating sheep and frothy hawthorn blossom; fluffy ducklings cheeped on petal-strewn, glittering water. We wandered down to a village pub. Surely this direction promised a relaxing weekend too? The next day, the stress began. It wasn't the five locks that were the problem (volunteer lock keepers on duty made them easy work) it was the depth – or lack of it – of the water. This isolated 35-mile canal has always been shallow – 'it was built on the cheap,' said one lock keeper – and, as a result, has a notional speed limit of 2mph, half that of other canals. We were also in the biggest boat in the Beacon Park Boats fleet: Drake, 60ft 12 in long and 8ft 6 in wide. This meant lots of twists and turns. Each of Beacon Park's boats is unique, designed by owner Alasdair Kirkpatrick, inspired by his love of fancy yachts. One vessel has a four-poster bed, another has a hot-tub on the front deck. With touches such as complimentary decanters of Welsh Penderyn whisky, they are the most expensive canal boats to hire in the country. Three nights in June on Drake costs over £2,000. What would those early boatmen who laboured with cargoes of coal and limestone think? With its interior of highly varnished red cherry wood and ash stripes, the boat brought to mind a circus tent. This proved apt. Before long, we found ourselves in the middle of a five-boat log-jam all going aground in the shallow canal. Passers-by on the towpath stopped to enjoy the spectacle. Barge poles flailed everywhere. Skippers shouted advice over the growl of engines. Hulls scraped over stones. One hiker offered to help, so we threw him our bow rope and he heaved like a horse. An old man on a bike stopped to yell insults. Some laughed, some cried. Eventually, just as I was wondering whether someone would start a trapeze act from the towering trees overhead, the log-jam began to shift and one by one the boats freed themselves and continued on their way. Skippers smiled and cheered. Our northward journey that day – a grand total of seven miles and five locks – took nine hours. On any other canal, you would estimate a journey time of about four hours. Turning around in the silted-up winding hole was a challenge. Again, people stopped to enjoy the entertainment. While it is true that this canal has always been shallow, there were boaters who said they thought it was more shallow than usual. 'We didn't have any problems last time we came, but we've been truly stuck this time. We had to ask for help,' said Helen Thurber who, with her husband Bob, had flown in from their home in the US. This was their third time to cruise on the Monmouthshire and Brecon. The long dry spring which has resulted in the closure of some inland waterways, such as the Rochdale Canal, the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and the Pocklington Canal, nearly saw the closure of this one too. Lack of rain and new legislation designed to protect the ecology of the River Usk that feeds the canal, meant the 'Mon & Brec', which is estimated to bring in £25 million to the local economy, faced the prospect of closing to navigation. An emergency stop-gap solution has now been agreed, with the Canal & River Trust (CRT) paying Welsh Water for supplies. Richard Parry, chief Executive of the CRT, says this could cost as much as £100,000 a week if the dry spell continues. Kirkpatrick is concerned about the implications. 'This canal is too important to fail, so CRT will pay Welsh Water silly money to keep it open and the rest of the canal network will suffer,' he says. ' Lack of rain in Wales – yes, surprising – will mean funding cuts across the rest of the inland waterways.' The youngsters who had headed south returned to base a few hours after us, their ice-box of drinks now empty. 'How was it?' I asked. 'We got stuck for two and a half hours!' said one of the party, Joe Richardson, from Essex. It wasn't the shallow water that was their undoing. They had tried to turn in a winding hole that was too short for their boat. Then they had to reverse for an hour and a half to get back to the winding hole they should have used. It sounded anything but 'relaxed and stress-free'. Despite this, Joe was upbeat. 'We'd definitely come back. We loved the scenery and the boat,' he said. 'Although next time we might choose a smaller one.' The beauty of this isolated canal, with its views of mountains glimpsed through trees, is unsurpassed. In the spring sunshine it was glorious. As well as two long days cruising, we found time for hikes: over a sheep-grazed hill with far-reaching views, and to the top of the escarpments above Llangattock. A cuckoo called, lambs bleated, the air was full of the scent of hawthorn. Mercifully, just as we were leaving, it began to rain.
Daily Mail
05-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Hotelier who spent £55k building his own canal and 'giant cupcake' in back garden 'fears for his business' ahead of showdown with council
A hotelier who spent £55,000 building his own canal and a 'giant cupcake' wedding venue in his garden faces having to rip them down after falling foul of planning laws. Stephen Cuddy made headlines after building his own mini-canal system with a functioning lock and a narrowboat, which he converted into a swimming pool. He went on to construct a cupcake-shaped wedding venue within the grounds of Grimscote Manor Hotel in Coleshill, Warwickshire. Both creations were hailed by TV's George Clarke as being among the best 'Amazing Spaces' he had ever featured on the Channel 4 show. But it has now emerged Stephen didn't have council approval to build either. And he has been warned that both may have to be torn down if he doesn't get retrospective planning permission. Stephen, 59, fears will have no choice but to demolish his labours of love, as he can't afford the legal fees to fight the local authority after splashing out on the projects. He claims it would cost him up to £100,000 to defend their construction. The self-taught architect said: 'It's really stressing me out and I don't know what to do as I don't have the money to fight them. 'I had issues from the start with the council but I thought I could build these things as a result of my permitted development rights. 'I don't agree the canal is a structure, I thought it would be classed under landscaping and all it does is harvest rainfall. 'I think the cupcake might be a permanent structure if we do start hosting weddings there like we intended but at the moment it's not being used for that. 'You try and create all these beautiful things for people to enjoy and this is what happens. I'm sure they will try and make me pull them down. 'I fear for my business as these creations are a draw for people and we saw revenue increase when both were built - some people even come just to have a photo with it.' Stephen previously purchased a 35ft (10m) long vintage barge off eBay for £5,000 and spent £25,000 constructing an accurate reproduction of a Victorian canal lock to house it. He also built a redbrick lockkeeper's cottage, an outdoor patio within a decorative tunnel alcove and installed a 29ft (8m) long swimming pool inside the barge. Stephen then spent £25,000 building the 'world's biggest cupcake' on a reinforced stable roof which he had planned to use for weddings or to host tea parties. It has an unsupported, domed roof without any vertical central upright. George Clarke described it as 'Genuinely one of my favourite Amazing Spaces builds of all time.' North Warwickshire District Council also say a marquee erected at the hotel breaches planning laws and also requires planning permission. Stephen added: 'They also have issues with the marquee which I've had for over ten years at which point you can claim lawful use regardless of permission. 'But because I took it down during Covid, they are also pulling me up on that as it doesn't come under the ten year lawful use period. 'I previously obtained the relevant permissions for the marquee when it was first erected in 2009 but that wasn't without a fight which cost £50,000 in legal fees. 'It was originally refused on safety grounds because of the increased traffic - and that is why I fear the worst now if they try to pull the same trick again. 'They want me to send in a joint application for all three things, but I think they should all be dealt with separately. I don't even know why they suddenly have an issue with marquee. 'It's a £100,000 defence I've estimated if I fight it all the way, which I just don't have. 'We've had no complaints whatsoever, exactly the opposite, everyone loves them. There would be uproar if I had to tear them down. 'I'm just trying to run a business and want to move on to other projects but have this lingering over me now. 'I think the council need a lesson in how to deal people with a bit of tact and humility instead of threats because this has really broken me.' The council says Mr Cuddy (pictured) can still opt to apply for full planning permission if he wants to keep all of the things he has built North Warwickshire District Council said several options were still open to Stephen before enforcement action would be taken. In a letter to Stephen, a planning officer said: 'During the subsequent tour of the hotel grounds, breaches of planning control were identified here. 'Located between the hotel building and the marquee is a round structure with a turret style roof, externally this structure resembles the shape of a cupcake. 'It is nearing completion and has been constructed on top of an existing stable block structure. 'There is no permitted development rights afforded to C1 Hotel use land by the GPDO that would allow for this structure without the need for planning permission. 'Upon entry to the site, a canal feature comprising a to scale canal lock, boat and tunnel can be seen. 'There is no planning permission to account for this. This is not "permitted development" and would be considered an engineering operation. 'It can be seen via Streetview imagery that this development was constructed between November 2021 and July 2023. 'It will need to be shown in a retrospective full planning application for formal consideration. 'For the avoidance of formal enforcement action, you are advised to submit a valid 'Full Planning Application' detailing retention of the Wedding Marquee, 'Cupcake' structure and Canal feature, as identified above. 'If you do not wish to apply for retrospective planning permission, a timeframe for removal of these developments may need to be agreed.' A North Warwickshire Borough Council spokesperson said: 'We have explained the planning situation to Mr Cuddy and have outlined several options open to him.
