“Canal Link – New Opportunities for Inland Waterways across the North Sea”
Interreg IIIB North Sea Region - Project Canal Link
Final Conference - Held at the House of Science in Bremen, Germany on May 11-13, 2006
Canal Link Final Conference Program
Map of Venues
Background
The North Sea Region network of navigable inland waterways (canals, rivers and lakes) was originally developed for the transport of goods. Many of the waterways are still important freight arteries, while on others the transport of goods has virtually ceased. However all inland waterways are becoming increasingly significant for tourism and recreation and as a focus for urban and rural regeneration - and by this for economic, social and environmental benefit.
Canal Link is a project supported by the European Commission Initiative INTERREG IIIB North Sea Region, bringing together partners from Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Sweden and the UK (Lead Partner is British Waterways), to investigate how the waterways can be further developed, based on the cultural and environmental heritage of the these waterways.
Through this final conference, we shared results of the project and showed how our navigable canals, rivers and lakes can be exploited to improve the quality of life of Europe’s inhabitants and can stimulate economic activities. Last but not least the final conference aimed to outline further project activities and to promote future co-operation development.
Final Conference Presentations
The Canal Link project formally ends on June 30th 2006. Our last event was the Final Conference in Bremen on June 11th 2006. The conference was held at the House of Science, Bremen and was attended by over eighty people including partners, sub-partners, politicians and representatives from the Baltic Sea Region project ‘InWater’.
We were welcomed by Christine Kramer representing the City of Bremen and Piet Bijman from the North Sea Commission, who gave the Keynote speech. They both thanked us for the work we had done.
The presentations and discussions that followed were of great interest and provide an excellent summary of the work we have carried out in Canal Link.
Final Report - Read the results of the Canal Link project in this comprehensive final report.
Order of Presentations - Overview of the final conference speakers and their presentations.
The conference participants were welcomed to Bremen by Christine Kramer, Councilor of State Building, Environment and Transport, Bremen (DE)
1 - Inland Waterways and the North Sea Commission by Piet Bijman, Province of Fryslan (NL)
2 - Canal Link - Presentations of results by Glenn Millar, Canal Link Project Leader, British Waterways (UK)
3 - Case Study: Canal Link in Bremen and the Region by Dr. Ralph Baumheier, Bremen (DE) and Heike Schumacher, County Council Osterholz (DE)
4 - Case Study: Regeneration of the canal corridor in Bradford, England by Dave West, Bradford Metropolitan District Council (UK) and Nick Ackroyd, Bradford Centre Regeneration (UK)
5 - Classification system for recreational waterways and waste water from boats: Finding from Canal Link studies by Nico van Lamsweerde, SRN - Dutch Recreational Waterways Foundation (NL)
6 - Inland waterways and cultural heritage by Ingeborg Paijens, Municipality Langedijk (NL) and Koen Vanneste, Province West-Flanders (BE)
7 - Inland waterways and business development / entrepreneurship (Presentation by Telemark) and (Presentation by Varmland) by Åsmund Groven, Notodden Utvikling AS (NO) and Monika Karlsson, Varmland Tourist Board (SE)
8 - Networks are forever: Why international cooperation is important? by Derek Cochrane, Director of Regeneration, British Waterways (UK)
9 - Why restore canals to navigation? by Andrew Stumpf, British Waterways (UK)
10 - Exploiting inland waterways in the Baltic Sea Region (Presentation of the InWater project) by Elzbieta Latocha, Gdansk University (PL)
11 - Cooperation in the Future by Thrond Kjellevold, Telemark County Council (NO)
Questions and Answers - Impressions:
Glenn Millar, British Waterways (UK)
Åsmund Groven, Notodden Utvikling AS (NO)
Per Bjørn Solvang, Nome kommune (NO)
David Cochrane, British Waterways (UK)
Thrond Kjellevold, Telemark fylkeskommune (NO)
Conference participants
