Fens Waterways Link

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The new Fens Waterways Link route to Spalding is from the River Glen (foreground) right into the River Welland (middle distance)

The Fens Waterways Link is a project to improve recreational boating opportunities in the counties of Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire, England. By a combination of improvements to existing waterways and the construction of new links a circular route between Lincoln, Peterborough, Ely and Boston is planned. The project is being organised by the Environment Agency and financed from the Regional Development Agency and the European Union. In conjunction with a separate new project, a canal between Milton Keynes and Bedford, the waterways of The Fens will be accessible by broad boats from the rest of Britain's canal network. Completion is expected in about 2014.

[edit] New Cuts

The Environment Agency has obtained a "significant proportion" of the £8m required for phase one. Starting from the north, the first development is the provision of a new tidal lock from the Haven in Boston to the South Forty-foot drain, with building work commencing on 8 February 2008.^[1] This will lead to a new link to the River Glen, a tributary of the River Welland, at Guthram Gowt, providing a route to Spalding.

Another major innovation will be a new cut between the Welland and the Nene downstream of Peterborough, and improvements to the Middle Level Navigations between the Nene and Great Ouse.^[2]

The completion of the project would be the long discussed canal between Bedford and Milton Keynes following the course of the Great Ouse and joining the Grand Union Canal, mooted as the "first new canal in over a century". The funding for this appears to be problematic but it has the additional attraction of providing for the first time an inland route for broad boats (up to 3.2m 0r 10'6" wide) between the north and south of England.

[edit] Gallery

Proposed route	The logo of the new link is already appearing along the route. This is on the South Forty-foot drain, northwest of Spalding	The South Forty-foot drain at Pointon, between Boston and Guthram Gowt. Here its origin as a drainage channel, set below the level of the surrounding fields, is very evident	The water level in the River Glen, here pictured looking west towards Guthram Gowt, is maintained by a tidal sluice at Surfleet Seas End. The sluice will be replaced by a lock
This section of the Car Dyke, near Eye, will be restored to navigation as part of the Link if problems of culverting under modern road improvements can be solved	The Cat's Water Drain is under consideration as an alternative route should the Car Dyke prove unsuitable	The Forty Foot Navigation, 1997. A new cut to bypass this shallow section may be constructed	The Forty Foot Navigation at Welches Dam on the Old Bedford River. The lock was restored in 1991