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Making more use of waterway paths and their surrounding corridors
November 2010
Benefits of use of waterway paths Use of waterway paths provides a wide range of benefits to local communities, including access for all to green spaces, the natural environment and cultural heritage features, sustainable transport routes and healthy recreation opportunities, as well as benefits to the local economy. This section of the report identifies these benefits.
place-making and shaping;
• o
enabling people to be more aware of their local area;
o
providing access to and between countryside/urban areas;
o
a focus for redevelopment. natural environment;
• o
Quantifying existing benefits The key document that has been used to identify and value the benefits of inland waterways paths is IWAC’s report The Benefits of Inland Waterways (2nd Edition) (2010).
climate change;
• o
providing access to historic features/ cultural environment; health well being recreation and sport;
• o
improving physical health/wellbeing;
o
improving mental health/wellbeing;
o
providing recreational resources in their own right;
o
providing access to recreational resources; sustainable transport
• o
providing routes free of motor traffic for walkers and cyclists;
o
saving money (cheaper travel option);
o
encouraging people to ‘get outdoors’; tourism and business development
• The towpath, waterway, bridges, locks, boats and activity all contribute to the sense of place at Hillmorton, Rugby
reduce CO2/greenhouse gas emissions through use of non-motorised transport; cultural heritage;
• o
The benefits accrued from waterway paths are far ranging. Existing key benefits identified through literature research and the on line questionnaire (grouped by the themes listed in the introduction to this report) include:
access to water/natural environment;
o
generating tourism income; fairer, stronger and more active communities:
• o
available and accessible to all.
Graph 8 shows the relative importance allocated by stakeholders to each of the above benefits in the questionnaire survey.