Dee Access - discussion of the petition

davebrads · Post by **davebrads** » Wed Jun 23, 2004 10:48 pm

I for one am not signing the petition to get the WCA and the BCU to come to an agreement over access to the Dee, so that we can have our competition at Llangollen Town. Don't get me wrong, I love the Town slalom (even though its not as good as the Serpent's Tail), mostly because it is natural, and we seem to be racing less and less on natural rivers these days.

The issues are much wider and more important than one slalom competition on 800m of river. Canoeists should have reasonable access to the whole of the River Dee, and I for one would be very dissapointed if we come out of the present discussions without a better access agreement than we had before.

The Dee is one of the few sizeable rivers with natural rapids in the UK, and as such should be available to canoeists as much as possible. What we should be doing as one small group amongst the larger community of canoeists is lobbying our MPS and showing local businesses in Llangollen how much trade they will lose, in order to force the landowners and fishermen to come to come to a fairer agreement.

Tony B · Post by **Tony B** » Tue Jun 29, 2004 1:30 pm

I agree Dave - without a united front the Dee will be lost forever.

Mrs H · Post by **Mrs H** » Tue Jun 29, 2004 2:20 pm

The idea of this petition is to try and get the relevant parties into active negotiation, not just for slalom but for all disciplines of canoeing. It will be sent to as many parties as possible to try and get an agreement. If we all just sit back and ignore what is happening nothing will happen and we will lose another prem/intenational site for slalom and we have too few already.
Once all canoeing stops on the Dee it will be even harder to regain. If other discipline are happy to see that then just sit back. Llangollen is our showpiece slalom, it draws the general public in good numbers and a reasonable number of overseas paddlers. The only altenative would be HPP is that what you want??

beefy · Post by **beefy** » Wed Jun 30, 2004 9:54 am

I agree
if it can be seen by the other disapines that we are goin to keep the town falls slalom site they are more likley to do something about the other sections of the river as they will finially think that the stand a chance over the upper bodies.

The town falls slalom brings alot of custum to the langollen area not just through slalom paddlers buying things or staying in hotels but because i know for a fact that people come from many malces over england and wales just to see the atmosphere of this race! The locals love these wekkends as it brings them entertainment.

Even if you are not doing it for yourselves to keep this section of river i think that it should be signed so that the other disaplines try and do something and also for the people that live and work in llangollen

hhzoombird · Post by **hhzoombird** » Wed Jun 30, 2004 10:15 am

[I've removed my post from here]

Dave Royle · Post by **Dave Royle** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 8:58 pm

I think what has upset most slalomists is that they were unaware that the British Open was being used as a bargaining tool by others.

davebrads · Post by **davebrads** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 10:40 pm

Yeah, but it isn't the paddlers that are using the races as bargaining tools, it is the anglers/landowners. First they remove all access, then as a sop they say we can have the races back, and four other days for touring, but with restrictions on numbers.

This river is only one hours drive away for me (can't be much more for you Dave), and it would be really good to be able to just shoot over there when it was raining and jump on, and there shouldn't be any reason why we can't. This issue must escalate so that it comes to the attention of the public at large in order that paddlers can be in a stronger position to negotiate access on rivers in general. Giving in now would mean having to wait for another major failure of an access agreement.

ps. It's not that I don't like the Town slalom, it is probably my favourite after the Tryweryn (got my best result there last year), but wearing my river running hat, the access problems need to be sorted out once and for all.

jim croft · Post by **jim croft** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 1:17 pm

To lose the British Open at Llangollen would be so sad and if lost would be unlikly to return.

According to my records the 1st British Open was run on October 19/20 1981 by Stafford and Stone CC organiser E P Baskerville

This years event if it runs will be the 23rd it is worth fighting for good luck to Mrs H and her team. It has been qouted that canoeing brings over £1,000,000 into the town I am sure the townsfolk would be sad to see it lost.

Jim

Canadian Paddler · Post by **Canadian Paddler** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 1:29 pm

I am sure I paddled Town Falls slalom whilst at Uni in teh late 70's, was it just not a British Open then, just a ranking event? ???

Mrs H · Post by **Mrs H** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 2:25 pm

Actually this years race would br the 31st to be held at llangollen! I hope the 30th doesn't turn out to be the last.

richard · Post by **richard** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 9:32 am

Glad to see that the petition is now gone from the front page and that you recognise that slalom is part of a wider sport of canoeing. I really hope that meaningful access is restored to the Dee and all other rivers.

Rich

Canadian Paddler · Post by **Canadian Paddler** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 12:38 pm

Does anyone know what progress is being made (if any).

What plans are in place to move the slaloms (if needed) I suggest Mile End Mill is not an option. Nothing against MEM, but if we turn up in Llangollen it undermines the economic impact. Tryweryn could be a good alternative if it is available, then perhaps Bala can remind Llangollen what they are missing!

Pingu · Post by **Pingu** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 1:34 pm

Anne Hounslow's update was posted on the Slalom UK site a few days ago. (It's now moved down a bit from the top).

There is also an invitation to send your comments for consideration by the Exec. They will make a final decision at their meeting on 11 September.

The WCA site (there's a link from the main slalom site) gives some of the background on its news page but there has been no update since February.

Pingu · Post by **Pingu** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 2:01 pm

Why is this "Off Topic"?

Any chance of moving it, Steve?

Pingu · Post by **Pingu** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 2:04 pm

Why is this "Off Topic"?

Any chance of moving it, Steve?